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Tag: Russia Ukraine

  • Oil prices drop over $1 as peace talks lift hopes

    Oil prices drop over $1 as peace talks lift hopes

    Oil prices fell by more than $1 a barrel on Thursday as hopes for progress in peace talks over the Middle East and the war in Ukraine eased concerns about supply, Reuters reported.

    Brent crude futures lost $1.14, or 1.2 percent, to $91.62 a barrel by 0141 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.04, or 1.2 percent, to $85.49 a barrel.

    Traders were encouraged by signs of movement on two fronts. In Abu Dhabi, negotiators at two days of US-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine agreed a major prisoner exchange before the sessions ended on Wednesday, although American mediators cautioned that deep differences remained on other issues, including territory. US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are now taking the framework to separate capitals to brief the Russian leadership and coordinate further steps with Ukrainian and European partners.

    Hiroyuki Kikukawa, chief strategist at Nissan Securities Investment, told Reuters that markets were falling on expectations that behind-the-scenes efforts were under way to secure a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, and that the war in Iran was unlikely to escalate ahead of a US-China summit next week.

    In the Middle East, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei has said he will not allow even a single particle of enriched nuclear material to leave the country, and warned there would be consequences if the United States launched new strikes. Washington, for its part, says nuclear issues must be part of any initial negotiations with Iran, while US officials have played down the need for further military action.

    Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said mutual understanding had been reached on some issues, including groundwork for a prisoner exchange involving more than 1,000 captives from each side, while stressing that major differences remained. Moscow has also questioned the need for an immediate European role in the talks, while Kyiv and its European allies insist Europe must have a seat at every stage of real diplomacy.

    The fall followed gains in the previous session, when Brent rose about 1.4 percent and WTI about 0.6 percent. Official stockpile data from the US Energy Information Administration is due later on Thursday, delayed by a day because of a US national holiday on Wednesday.

  • Russia-Ukraine Agree Biggest Prisoner Swap in Abu Dhabi

    Russia-Ukraine Agree Biggest Prisoner Swap in Abu Dhabi

    Russia and Ukraine have agreed to the largest prisoner exchange of their nearly five-year war, officials said on Wednesday, after two days of United States-led peace talks in Abu Dhabi ended without a ceasefire deal.

    US envoy Jared Kushner, who led the American mediation alongside Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, said the exchange would be bigger than all previous swaps of the war. The exact numbers are to be finalised on Thursday. Both sides confirmed the planned exchange, with Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky and Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov each endorsing it.

    The talks in the United Arab Emirates capital were the first trilateral negotiations between the three sides since February, and the fourth round overall. They came as the Trump administration renewed its drive to end the conflict, which has now entered its fifth year with no end in sight.

    Despite the humanitarian breakthrough, the negotiations produced little else in the way of concrete progress. Kushner said the two envoys would travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, and would then fly to Dublin to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an effort to push a deal forward.

    Territory remains the hardest issue

    Medinsky told reporters that the two sides had found mutual understanding in some areas but not in others, and that the conversation would continue. Territory remains the central obstacle, with the Russian negotiator insisting that every inch of land claimed by Moscow would be returned to Russia, while Kyiv has refused to surrender territory.

    Zelensky praised Washington for organising the talks and described the prisoner agreement as an important humanitarian step. He said Kyiv hoped to achieve concrete results by the end of the year, but cautioned that much would depend on how the United States approached Moscow in the coming days.

    European national security advisers, along with officials from NATO and the European Union, were also in Abu Dhabi this week for separate discussions with Ukrainian and American negotiators, underlining the wider diplomatic effort surrounding the talks.

    The negotiations unfolded against continued fighting on the ground. Overnight, Russian strikes hit the southern Zaporizhzhia region and the eastern city of Kharkiv, wounding seven civilians. Earlier this month, at least 55 people were killed when Russian bombs struck a school building used as a shelter and aid centre in Zaporizhzhia, one of the deadliest single incidents of the war.

    Civilian deaths in Ukraine are at their highest point since the conflict began, with more than 2,700 people killed in Russian strikes so far this year, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data monitor. Markets reacted positively to the talks, with oil prices falling more than a dollar on Thursday as traders bet that progress towards a settlement, however gradual, was under way.

    Whether the prisoner exchange leads to wider movement remains uncertain. All previous rounds of trilateral talks have ended without a significant breakthrough, and the two sides remain far apart on the core questions of territory and security guarantees. For now, the agreement offers the families of captured soldiers the clearest hope of reunion since the war began.