As the second round of Ukraine peace talks in less than two weeks ran into a second day Russian and Ukraine negotiators said there had been progress.
Feb. 5 Two days of talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States on bringing the conflict in Ukraine to an end were continuing on Thursday after some « positive progress » on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.
Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev said there had been forward movement in the negotiation process on a peace agreement with Ukraine in spite of blocking tactics by European countries, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported.
« The warmongers from Europe, from Britain, are constantly trying to interfere with this process, constantly trying to meddle in it. And the more such attempts there are, the more we see that progress is definitely being made », said Dmitriev.
Wednesday’s agenda included economic issues, the question of territory and a cease-fire mechanism, according to TASS.
Lead Ukrainian negotiator and national security and defense council head Rustem Umerov said the talks had been « substantive and productive, focused on concrete steps and practical solutions. »
Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, announced Thursday that the talks had yielded a deal between Moscow and Kyiv to exchange 314 prisoners, the first such swap since September.
« This outcome was achieved from peace talks that have been detailed and productive.
