Zelensky Expects POW Exchange ‘in Near Future’ as Abu Dhabi Talks Continue

President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had received a report from Ukrainian negotiators in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday evening, as trilateral peace talks with the US and Russia continue.

Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said earlier on Wednesday that he and his fellow negotiators were drafting a report for Zelensky.

“The guys were in touch. We discussed the interim results of the negotiations that day. They will continue tomorrow,” the president said on Telegram.

“There will also be a significant step: we expect an exchange of prisoners of war in the near future. We need to return the prisoners home,” he added. 

Last year saw the return of 2,310 Ukrainians from Russian captivity – a record since the full-scale war began. Several prisoner swaps were agreed, including through talks between lower-level Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul.

However, Zelensky told a Kyiv Post reporter last month that Russia was deliberately stalling exchanges in an attempt to pressure Ukraine over ongoing negotiations.

Also on Wednesday, the president reiterated his call for Ukraine’s allies to provide security guarantees in the event of a peace deal – ensuring an end to the war “in real terms.”

“People in Ukraine must feel that the situation is genuinely moving toward peace, toward an end to the war, and not toward a scenario in which the Russians exploit everything to their advantage and continue their strikes,” he said.

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President Zelensky on Tuesday called for Europe to develop its own anti-ballistic missile defense system after Russia launched a massive overnight strike involving 656 drones and 73 missiles. He said the attack, which killed at least 17 people and injured over 100, shows that Ukraine and Europe remain vulnerable without stronger air defenses. Zelensky also stressed the need for continued US support in supplying Patriot missiles to counter ballistic threats.

“There must be no rewards for the aggressor – if any reward is given to the aggressor, Russia will, over time, break any agreement.”

Although Umerov earlier described Wednesday’s talks as “productive and substantive,” key issues – particularly Russia’s demand that Ukraine concede territory it has proved unable to take militarily – remain. 

“Our position is well known,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday morning. “Until the Kyiv regime makes the appropriate decisions, the special military operation [the Kremlin’s term for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine] continues.”