The Japan Times - Ukraine, Russia swap prisoners, US says 'work remains' to end war

The negotiations are the latest bid in diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting -- Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, with hundreds of thousands killed, millions forced to flee their homes and much of eastern and southern Ukraine left decimated.

As talks were underway, large swathes of the Ukrainian capital were still without heating in sub-zero temperatures, after successive Russian strikes knocked out energy supplies to hundreds of apartment blocks in Kyiv.

"Today, delegations from the United States, Ukraine, and Russia agreed to exchange 314 prisoners -- the first such exchange in five months," US envoy Steve Witkoff said on social media during the second day of talks in Abu Dhabi.

Russia's defence ministry later confirmed the two sides changed 157 prisoners each.

While Witkoff described the negotiations as "detailed and productive," he dimmed hopes for a breakthrough saying "significant work remains."

On Wednesday, Kyiv had described the first day of negotiations as "substantive and productive".

Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev also said talks were going well.

"There is definitely progress, things are moving forward in a good, positive direction," he said.

But there was no update from any side on the contentious issue of territory, or any sign of concession from Moscow, which entered the talks refusing to compromise on its key demands.

The Russian envoy also slammed what he called attempts from European nations to "disrupt the progress," without elaborating.

In a rare official admission of battlefield losses, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that at least 55,000 of his country's troops had been killed since Russia invaded in February 2022 -- a figure lower than many independent estimates.

Russia has not disclosed how many of its soldiers have been killed. Tracking of obituaries and family announcements by the BBC and independent Mediazona outlet has found the names of more than 160,000 Russian soldiers killed in the conflict.

- 'Concrete steps' -

Ahead of the two-day talks, Russia launched its latest massive attack on Ukraine's power infrastructure, leaving many people without power and shivering through temperatures as low as minus 20C.

Ukraine's chief negotiator Rustem Umerov said Wednesday that "concrete steps and practical solutions" had been discussed in the first day of the talks.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters fighting would persist "until the Kyiv regime makes the appropriate decisions".

The main sticking point in the negotiations is the long-term fate of territory in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow is demanding that Kyiv pull its troops out of swathes of the Donbas, including heavily fortified cities atop vast natural resources, before any deal.

It also wants international recognition that land seized in the invasion belongs to Russia.

- 'Maintain pressure' -

Kyiv has said the conflict should be frozen along the current front line and has rejected a pull-back of forces.

The talks in Abu Dhabi are the second round of trilateral negotiations between the US, Russia and Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump has been pushing both sides to negotiate an end to the war since he returned to office, boasting he could strike a deal in hours.

Zelensky said the US president's role was crucial, telling French television in an interview broadcast Wednesday that "Putin is only scared of Trump".

Trump could use economic sanctions against Russia or transfer weapons to Ukraine to "maintain this pressure on Putin", Zelensky said, adding that Kyiv would not compromise on sovereignty.

Russia occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine. It claims the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as its own, and holds pockets of territory in at least three other Ukrainian regions in the east.

Kyiv still controls around one-fifth of the Donetsk region that Moscow demands it withdraws from. Ukraine has warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow, and that it will not sign a deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.

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K.Abe--JT