Russia, Ukraine reach deal on prisoner swap as US says lack of trust holds back talks

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators agreed to a major prisoner exchange at two days of peace talks in Abu Dhabi that ended on Wednesday, but U.S. mediators said differences remained on major issues, including territory.

At their first negotiations in nine months, the two countries agreed in principle to exchange prisoners of war and to determine the numbers on Thursday.

U.S. envoy Jared Kushner said the new ‌swap would be the "biggest humanitarian release of prisoners" in the 4-1/2-year-old war, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said its scope would be "significant."

Both Russia and Ukraine said that progress had been made in the Abu Dhabi talks and negotiations would continue. But there was little else in the way of concrete breakthroughs announced after the US-brokered meetings.

Kushner, U.S.President Donald Trump's son-in-law, said mediators were appealing to each side's interests to end Europe's biggest conflict since World War Two and he expressed confidence they would find a pathway to peace.

Reuters