Europe
Zelensky: “I see changes” among the American mediators – what he says the Russians claimed about Donbas in Abu Dhabi
On the second day of the U.S.–Russia–Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi, Zelensky said he sees changes in the American mediators, that Russian officers claimed to control half of Ukrainian-held Donbas, and that he wants a swap of up to 1,500 prisoners.
Volodymyr Zelensky entered the second day of the trilateral U.S.–Russia–Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi, which continued on Wednesday, November 11, with optimism but also with barbs for the Russian delegation. At the press conference he gave in Copenhagen on Tuesday evening, after meeting the Nordic leaders, he was asked about the stance of the American mediators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff and answered: “I see changes. I am very satisfied with what I hear.”
“Putin lives in another reality”
The sharpest disclosure concerned Donbas. Zelensky said that in the second briefing he received from the negotiating team, he was told that Russian officers and intelligence officials had seriously argued that they have already taken half of the part of Donbas that Ukraine actually controls. The Ukrainians replied that they have video, images and other evidence to the contrary.
“Putin lives in another reality,” the Ukrainian president commented, estimating that the Russian leader will tell the Americans he needs one to two months to take the whole of eastern Ukraine. “I can also draw you a picture in which I take the whole of Russia,” he added ironically. The positive, in his words, is that the American side confirmed Ukraine’s assessment of the situation on the ground.
From there Zelensky reached his main request, a meeting at leaders’ level. As an example of the sensitive issues he cited Kherson, where the line runs along the Dnieper, with the Russians on one bank and the Ukrainians on the other, while people want to live together on both banks. He said Kyiv would put the proposal on the second day of the talks, without being sure that Moscow is ready.
A swap of up to 1,500 prisoners, and Kyiv’s “order of steps”
On humanitarian matters, the Ukrainian president spoke of a large exchange under preparation, with American officials travelling to Russia for it. “I want it to be a thousand for a thousand, maybe even 1,500 for 1,500,” he said. On the idea of a new European security architecture, which Moscow has put forward, he was reserved, saying nobody has seen any documents and that the order must be clear: first an end to the war, then security guarantees for Ukraine and only afterwards a dialogue on European security.
He also asked for more pressure on Russia and “less business” with it, considering that lifting sanctions would bring less than economic pressure. “We do not trust, but we hope,” he noted. To the leaders of Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland, with whom he met in Copenhagen as we reported, he had conveyed that Europe must take part in the negotiations. The first day, which opened with security guarantees at its centre, lasted almost four hours.
