A second round of trilateral talks aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war concluded in a stalemate on Thursday after the warring parties failed to resolve the key dispute of territorial concession, officials said.
The US-brokered negotiations being held in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) capital lasted two days and saw high-level delegations from the three countries remain deeply divided over various demands.
The only concrete outcome, said officials privy to the talks, was an agreement to exchange 157 prisoners of war, which US officials also confirmed on Thursday had taken place.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s aide, Kyrylo Budanov, 19 illegally-sentenced Ukrainian nationals were released as part of the latest prisoner arrangement.
US negotiators, including US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, described the progress, whatever little was made, to have been the result of “sustained diplomatic efforts by the United States”.
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While acknowledging that significant work remains to be done, the agreement on prisoner exchange demonstrated that “sustained diplomatic engagement is delivering tangible results and advancing efforts to end the war in Ukraine”.
Zelenskyy struck a cautious note, saying Ukraine would remain “as constructive as possible” even though the process is “certainly no easy”. “We want faster results,” he told reporters in Kyiv alongside visiting Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk.
The first round of trilateral talks, held in late January, also yielded little progress on the vital question of territory.
Moscow continues to demand that Ukraine cede the eastern Donbas and Donetsk regions – territories Russia has controlled since 2014. Kyiv has rejected these demands outright.
In a rare admission earlier this week, Zelenskyy said 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since 2022, with thousands more missing in action.
Meanwhile, the United States and Russia also agreed to reinstate high-level military-to-military engagement, which had been suspended in 2021, according to a statement from US European Command.
The channel “will provide consistent military-to-military contact as the parties continue to work towards a lasting peace,” the command said.
Russia’s chief negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, said, “Things are moving forward in a good, positive direction.” He added that active work was underway to restore Russia’s relations with the United States, including through a US-Russia working group on the economy.
However, he criticised what he called attempts by European nations to “disrupt” and “meddle” in the process.
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