The Trump envoys will travel to Moscow to meet with Putin following the talks about Ukraine in Abu Dhabi.

Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law; envoy Steve Witkoff and Sergiy Kyslytsya, at a conference on the second day of the trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, November 11, 2026. (REUTERS/Rula Rouhana) Russia and Ukraine agreed to their largest prisoner release since the start of the war, reported U.S. envoy Jared Kushner on Wednesday, following two days of U.S.-mediated negotiations in Abu Dhabi. Kushner and his counterpart Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and then to Dublin to see Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky. "One of the positive aspects is that we agreed there will be the largest humanitarian release of prisoners, and tomorrow we will finalize the numbers," Kushner told journalists. The heads of the delegations, Vladimir Medinski, Putin's advisor, and Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine's foreign intelligence, confirmed that a large-scale exchange was agreed upon and that the figures would be announced later. Zelensky had said on Tuesday that an exchange of 1,000 prisoners on each side was being discussed, which could rise to 1,500. Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, speaks during a conference alongside Rustem Umerov, head of the Ukrainian delegation, in Abu Dhabi, November 11, 2026. (REUTERS/Rula Rouhana) Kushner said the meeting with Putin would serve to "review what was discussed today and try to advance further," and the meeting with Zelensky would be to "explore in greater depth some of the ideas that came to us here today." David Arajamia, a member of the Ukrainian delegation and head of the pro-government faction, said that Ukraine sees a "good dynamic": "I believe we have a good dynamic to reach a solution before next year begins." He spoke of a "great breakthrough" after the two days of dialogue, which included meetings between the Ukrainian delegation, the American envoys, and European representatives. Medinski, on the other hand, said that Russia had no communication with the European representatives present in Abu Dhabi and questioned their role: "We do not very well understand in what capacity you are here." He affirmed that Moscow had not received concrete proposals from the European countries. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky speaks in the Danish Parliament, at Christiansborg Castle, in Copenhagen, November 11, 2026. (Ritzau Scanpix/Thomas Traasdahl via REUTERS) The meeting on Wednesday, the second day, lasted just under two hours and was held in a trilateral format. Afterward, the Kyiv delegation met with the Europeans and the Washington envoys, reported a Ukrainian source to AFP. The exchange and the agreement to continue talking were the only concrete results mentioned by either party. These are the first direct negotiations in nine months; the last round was in Geneva in February, with no progress. Russia demands that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the Donetsk region in the east. Kyiv rejects this and asks for concrete security guarantees, including at least ten years of financial support to maintain an army of 800,000 men. Zelensky says that territorial decisions must be made at the leadership level. Moscow rejects an immediate ceasefire and wants broader security arrangements agreed upon first. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the talks as "very productive," but said that progress to stop the war will take time. During the negotiations, attacks continued. The Ukrainian Prime Minister, Serguii Koretski, said that Russia bombed "six important electrical substations" in four provinces during the night. Russian attacks in Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv injured seven civilians, according to Reuters. The Russian Ministry of Defense said it shot down 627 Ukrainian drones, 150 of them over the St. Petersburg region, and a drone attack set fire to the Ust-Luga oil port, injuring three people, according to the governor of the Leningrad region.