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Russia-Ukraine ceasefire negotiations stall

US envoys to visit Moscow and Dublin on Thursday for talks with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy respectively Russia and Ukraine have agreed to the “largest prisoner exchange” of the war at their first US-brokered talks since February but made little progress towards a broader peace agreement.

✦ Extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting•From 8 sources•1 min read•Updated November 12, 2026, 9:01 AM UTC
Key points
  • Talks in Abu Dhabi centred around Europe's security framework, with US envoys due to meet Putin and Zelensky on Thursday.
  • Kyiv and Moscow on Wednesday agreed to a large-scale prisoner exchange as the final day of peace talks in Abu Dhabi came to an end, though neither side gave a concrete figure.
  • US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will meet separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.

Negotiators appeared to make little progress in talks between Russia and Ukraine to agree a durable ceasefire, as the two countries hammered each other with strikes overnight.

Additional details
  • The US president's son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff are in Russia to meet Vladimir Putin.
  • The meeting with Kushner and Witkoff comes after two days of trilateral talks in the UAE yielded no breakthrough.
  • U.S.-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi led to this decision, marking the biggest humanitarian release since the war began in 2022.
  • officials say they are determined to revive Washington’s peace efforts that so far have failed to deliver significant results.
  • Both sides sent senior delegations to the two-day talks, led by Donald Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, in an effort to find a solution to end the nearly-five-year war.

How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →

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Every article behind this summary — 10 articles from 8 outlets

Al JazeeraNovember 12, 2026, 9:01 AM UTC → The Guardian WorldNovember 12, 2026, 9:01 AM UTC → DW NewsNovember 12, 2026, 6:35 AM UTC → France 24November 11, 2026, 9:46 PM UTC → Global News WorldNovember 11, 2026, 8:39 PM UTC → BBC WorldNovember 11, 2026, 6:04 PM UTC → The Guardian WorldNovember 11, 2026, 5:03 PM UTC → The Guardian WorldNovember 11, 2026, 4:08 PM UTC → NPR NewsNovember 11, 2026, 1:30 PM UTC → SemaforNovember 11, 2026, 11:57 AM UTC →

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