Ukraine Sees Momentum for Deal Before New Year

Ukraine has momentum to reach a solution before the end of 2026, negotiator Davyd Arakhamia said on Wednesday, Nov. 11, after difficult talks in Abu Dhabi produced an agreement on a potentially record prisoner exchange.“I think we now have good momentum to find a solution before the New Year,” Arakhamia said⁠ at a briefing following the two-day negotiations involving Ukraine, Russia, and the US.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.Arakhamia, who heads the governing Servant of the People faction in parliament, described the round as one of the hardest since he began participating in negotiations in 2022.He said Russian representatives had arrived with very strict instructions, making it extremely difficult to soften the discussions.Nevertheless, he pointed to the prisoner agreement and progress on other issues as reasons to keep the diplomatic process moving.Ukraine pushes for another round before momentum fadesArakhamia urged US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to use their forthcoming meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian presidents to prepare the next negotiating round.After visiting Moscow, they should meet the Ukrainian side in Dublin, agree on a date, and announce the next session as quickly as possible, he said.He also reported substantial progress on matters that the delegations could not yet disclose publicly, without identifying those issues or explaining what had been agreed.His year-end assessment expressed optimism about the negotiations – the briefing produced no announcement of an agreed deadline for ending the war. Other Topics of Interest Sybiha Discusses Trade With Turkey’s Top Diplomat Kyiv is also seeking to put the environmental damage caused by Russia's full-scale invasion on the agenda at an ongoing UN event. Kushner separately confirmed that he and Witkoff planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday, Nov. 12, before traveling to Dublin for discussions with President Volodymyr Zelensky.Prisoner agreement could become one of the largest exchangesArakhamia identified the planned prisoner exchange as a concrete outcome of the difficult discussions.“I think there is already a sense that this will be a truly large-scale exchange, one of the largest, if not the largest,” he said.Kushner also confirmed the agreement, saying the delegations intended to arrange their largest humanitarian release of prisoners. The final numbers would be settled on Thursday, Nov. 12. The announcement did not establish when the exchange would take place.Zelensky had previously said the delegations discussed exchanging 1,000 or 1,500 prisoners⁠ from each side. Those figures described possible formats and were not a finalized total.Ahead of the meetings, presidential chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov had called for prisoner exchanges to intensify⁠, identifying the return of Ukrainians from captivity as a priority for the humanitarian negotiations.Arakhamia sees progress toward bringing Europe into talksArakhamia also counted the resumption of negotiations after a nine-month interruption among the round’s achievements.Another objective was to move from three-party negotiations toward a broader format involving European representatives. He described that goal as nearly achieved.European participation in direct negotiations with Russia remained unresolved.Ukraine and the US held separate consultations with European partners⁠ in Abu Dhabi, involving representatives of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, NATO, and the European Commission.Those consultations allowed Kyiv and its partners to coordinate their positions alongside the three-country negotiations.Security guarantees advance while territory remains unresolvedKushner said the talks made significant progress on security guarantees for Ukraine, including arrangements for separating forces and monitoring a future ceasefire.Territorial questions remained unresolved. He said a meeting between Zelensky and Putin would be welcome, while explaining that the Russian side wanted further progress before such an encounter.Russian delegation leader Vladimir Medinsky maintained Moscow’s hard line, saying Russia would recover every piece of what he called “our land.” He also dismissed European positions as illusions.Ukraine has rejected proposals to redraw Donbas borders⁠ and maintains that it will not recognize Russian sovereignty over occupied Ukrainian territory.Zelensky has said territorial questions require discussions between the countries’ leaders. The prisoner agreement offers a concrete humanitarian result, while the central territorial dispute remains unsettled. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.