Europe to join next round of Ukraine peace talks as largest prisoner exchange takes shape
Photo: Laois Nationalist (file photo)European representatives will join the next round of Ukraine peace talks, U.S. envoys said Thursday after a day of shuttle diplomacy that took them from the Kremlin to Dublin — and Russia and Ukraine agreed to work toward the largest prisoner exchange of the war.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and fellow envoy Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Thursday, then flew to Ireland to brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was attending the European Political Community summit in Dublin. After the Moscow meeting, Witkoff told Russian state television that Putin had agreed to let European representatives take part in the next round.
"The Europeans will join at the next meeting, which we consider to be a very important moment because they are our partners and it's important to us that they take part," Witkoff said.
In Dublin on Thursday evening, the envoys met Zelenskyy at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel, west of the city. Zelenskyy said the prisoner exchange agreed in the talks would be the biggest of the war, calling it "a real result," and said Europe "will be in the negotiating team" at the next meeting. He said he hoped the agenda would include steps toward de-escalation and ceasefires, adding: "It is important that everything is unblocked."
Kushner wrote on X that both sides had agreed to expand the next round of talks to include European nations. "We are also working toward what would be the largest prisoner exchange of the war, potentially reuniting thousands of people with their families," he wrote. In Dublin, he added: "We cannot conclude this deal without the Europeans being at the table."
The agreement is not yet locked in. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov did not confirm that European representatives would attend the next round, and called Europe's current stance on Ukraine "a recipe for endless war." Putin said Washington must work with its European allies to understand whether they want peace or war. No date or place has been set for the next round, and no prisoner number has been announced. Zelenskyy had earlier said negotiators were discussing an exchange of 1,000 to 1,200 prisoners on each side, according to RFE/RL.
The diplomacy followed two days of U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11, the first direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in nine months. Those talks produced no breakthrough on a ceasefire or territory — Russia holds about a fifth of Ukraine, and Kyiv refuses to give up the rest of its eastern Donbas region — but did produce the prisoner-exchange agreement in principle. Russia remained evasive on Friday, CNN reported, with the Kremlin neither explicitly endorsing a European delegation nor flatly rejecting it, and European leaders have not yet publicly assigned a representative.
Sources: Reuters, "Kushner says US working toward 'largest prisoner exchange' of Russia's war in Ukraine" (Nov. 13, 2026, full text verified); CNN, "Russia evasive after the US says Europe will join next Ukraine talks" (Nov. 13, 2026, full text verified); RFE/RL, "Ukraine Peace Talks Yield Prisoner Deal but No Path to Peace" (Nov. 12, 2026). Moscow has not confirmed European participation in the next round.
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