Witkoff: Ukraine and Russia agree to exchange 314 prisoners

On Thursday, delegations from the United States, Ukraine, and Russia agreed to exchange 314 prisoners, marking the first such agreement in five months.

This was announced by Steve Witkoff, special envoy of US President Donald Trump, who said that this was the result of detailed and "productive" peace talks.

At the same time, however, he warned that despite this progress, much work remains to be done by the parties if the war in Ukraine is to end.

The US-mediated talks are taking place in Abu Dhabi, and Kyiv described the first day as constructive, even though fighting continued on the front lines.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his expectation that the dialogue would lead to further prisoner exchanges. Witkoff also indicated that the talks would continue in the coming weeks and could bring further progress.

Details on how many prisoners each side will exchange have not yet been released, and the White House has not immediately commented on the agreement.

(reuters, pir)