270 for 270: First prisoner swap in two months – talks set for November

Ukraine and Russia exchanged 270 prisoners of war each on Friday. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the return of the Ukrainian soldiers. According to the Kyiv Independent, it was the first swap in two months and the 11th this year. Human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said seven Ukrainian civilians had also returned from Russia, while seven other people traveled to Russia for family reunification with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Prisoner exchanges are seen as one of the few channels through which Moscow and Kyiv still cooperate regularly.

Zelenskyy also said negotiating teams from Ukraine, Russia and the United States will meet in Abu Dhabi in November. “The plan is to meet in the first half of November,” he told the U.S. think tank Hudson Institute by video. Talks are to begin at the technical level; if they make progress, meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump could follow. Zelenskyy called for robust security guarantees and European participation. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov had agreed “in principle” to a meeting on Nov. 10, Al Jazeera reported.