The United States and Russia agreed to reestablish high-level military dialogue for the first time in more than four years, according to the U.S. European Command, in a move that follows recent diplomacy involving talks on ending the war in Ukraine. The restored communication channel will provide a consistent military-to-military contact as the parties work toward what the U.S. described as a lasting peace, the command said.
The agreement emerged from a meeting of senior Russian and American military officials in Abu Dhabi, where officials from the United States and Russia were joined by Ukraine’s delegation and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, according to Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council chief. U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the commander in Europe of both U.S. and NATO forces, was also in Abu Dhabi as the Ukraine-related talks entered a second day.
The U.S. and Russia last suspended high-level military communication in late 2021 as tensions rose ahead of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since taking office again, President Donald Trump has sought to end the fighting, and the AP account said some of his proposals for peace have favored the Kremlin, including requiring Ukraine to cede territory to Russia.
The resumption of direct high-level military dialogue is also intended to reduce the risk of incidents between U.S. and Russian forces. The AP described one such episode in March 2023 in the Black Sea, when the U.S. military said it ditched an Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone after Russian fighter jets dumped fuel on it and one of the jets struck the drone’s propeller while flying in international airspace. Moscow denied that its warplanes hit the drone, saying it crashed after a sharp maneuver, and it said its aircraft responded to what Russia described as a violation of a no-fly zone near Crimea.
In the months since, NATO members have expressed concern about intrusions into allied airspace, the AP report said, describing Russian drone activity in Poland and escort flights involving Russian warplanes leaving Estonia’s airspace. Those encounters were framed by some European officials as Moscow testing NATO’s response, according to the account.
Following Thursday’s Abu Dhabi talks, the two sides also reported a prisoner exchange. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it brought back 157 Russian servicemen from Ukrainian captivity and three Russian nationals captured during Kyiv’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. Ukrainian officials said 150 Ukrainian servicemen and seven civilians returned from Russian captivity, and Russia said the released Russian soldiers were in Belarus receiving medical assistance before they returned to Russia for treatment and rehabilitation.
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said that among the 150 service members returned from Russian captivity, 18 had been “illegally sentenced by Russia,” and he said those released were in a difficult psychological condition, with some critically underweight.
Elsewhere during the wider diplomatic and war developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview broadcast late Wednesday on France 2 that 55,000 Ukrainian troops have died since Russia’s invasion, while also citing a large number of people Ukraine considers missing. The AP report said Zelenskyy last provided a battlefield death figure in early 2025, when he said 46,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed, and it said he has repeatedly argued that Ukraine needs security guarantees from the U.S. and Europe to deter any postwar Russian attacks.
The AP account added that the war has continued alongside diplomatic efforts, including reported Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid and continued fighting along a roughly 1,000-kilometer front line. It also reported that Russian drones and ballistic missiles attacked Ukraine overnight, while Ukraine said its air force downed Russian-launched drones over multiple regions, including areas near Crimea. The AP further noted steps involving Starlink access on the front line, comments from Ukraine’s defense leadership on the effects of losing access, and developments during Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s visit to Kyiv on ammunition production and possible exchanges involving liquefied natural gas and military hardware.