Ukraine and Russia both say a large prisoner exchange is coming after U.S. envoys meet Putin in Moscow and Zelensky in Dublin

Ukraine and Russia are preparing a new prisoner exchange, both governments said Thursday, after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and then Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Dublin.  “We are counting on the largest prisoner exchange since the start of this war,” Zelensky said in a statement posted by his office.

Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, said in a Kremlin briefing that the two sides backed another exchange discussed at talks in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, earlier this week.  He said its terms are still being agreed.  Ushakov called the Moscow meeting “very substantive, constructive, frank and productive” and said the talks will go on.

Where the sides still differ

Ushakov said the U.S. envoys supported Putin’s proposal for a “humanitarian operation” in Kostiantynivka, a front-line city in eastern Ukraine, and that Russia is ready to start clearing mines there.  He also repeated Russia’s demands that NATO stop expanding and pull back forces near Russia’s borders, and said European troops in Ukraine after the war would be “the recipe for an endless war.”

Zelensky said Ukraine wants European countries to have “an equal seat at the negotiating table.”  In Dublin, where Ireland hosted a European Political Community summit, he met national security advisers from Britain, Germany, France and Italy and held a separate meeting with about 20 of Ukraine’s partners, his office said.

Source:  Office of the President of Ukraine, Nov. 13, 2026; Zelensky statement on X, Nov. 12, 2026; Kremlin, Ushakov commentary, Nov. 12, 2026.