US and Russia agree to reestablish military dialogue after Ukraine talks

KYIV, Ukraine — The U.S. and Russia agreed Thursday to reestablish high-level military dialogue for the first time in more than four years in another sign of warming relations between the two countries since President Donald Trump returned to office and sought to end the war in Ukraine .

High-level military communication was suspended in late 2021, as tension between Moscow and Washington rose ahead of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Trump then campaigned for a second term on promises that he would swiftly end the fighting. Many of his proposals for peace have heavily favored the Kremlin, including requiring Ukraine to cede territory to Russia.

The restored communication channel “will provide a consistent military-to-military contact as the parties continue to work towards a lasting peace,” the U.S. European Command said in a statement. The agreement emerged from a meeting between senior Russian and American military officials in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich , who is the commander in Europe of both U.S. and NATO forces, was in Abu Dhabi, where talks between American, Russian and Ukrainian officials on ending the war entered a second day.

Meanwhile, Moscow escalated its attacks on Ukraine’s power grid in an apparent effort to deny civilians power and to weaken public support for the fight, while hostilities continued along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line snaking through eastern and southern parts of Ukraine.

An effort to ease tensions

The resumption of the military hotline marks an effort to ease tensions that soared after the start of the war and to avoid collisions between Russian and U.S. forces.

In one such incident in March 2023, the American military said it ditched an Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone in the Black Sea after a pair of Russian fighter jets dumped fuel on it, and then one of them struck its propeller while flying in international airspace.

Moscow has denied that its warplanes hit the drone, alleging that it crashed while making a sharp maneuver. The Kremlin said its aircraft reacted to a violation of a no-fly zone Russia has established in the area near Crimea.

Moscow has repeatedly voiced concern about intelligence flights by the U.S. and other NATO aircraft over the Black Sea, and some Russian officials charged that the American surveillance flights helped gather intelligence that allowed Ukraine to strike Russian targets.

NATO members have been increasingly worried about intrusions into allied airspace. Some European officials described the incidents as Moscow testing NATO’s response.

In September, a swarm of Russian drones flew into Poland’s airspace , prompting NATO aircraft to scramble to intercept them and shoot down some of the devices. It was the first direct encounter between NATO and Moscow since the full-scale invasion. Later that month, NATO jets escorted three Russian warplanes out of Estonia’s airspace.

Russia, Ukraine exchange prisoners following talks

The delegations from Moscow and Kyiv were joined Thursday in Abu Dhabi by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council chief, who was present at the meeting.

They were also at last month’s talks in the same place as the Trump administration tries to steer Russia and Ukraine toward a settlement.

Officials have provided no information about any progress in the discussions.

Following the talks on Thursday, however, Russia and Ukraine said they carried out a prisoner exchange.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it brought 157 Russian servicemen back from Ukrainian captivity, as well as 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.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the released Russian soldiers are currently in Belarus, getting medical assistance, before being taken back to Russia “for treatment and rehabilitation.”

Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said that among the 150 service members who returned from Russian captivity, 18 were “illegally sentenced by Russia.” He said that “overall, those released are in a difficult psychological condition, and some are critically underweight.”

Zelenskyy says 55,000 Ukrainian troops killed in the war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 55,000 Ukrainian troops have died since Russia’s invasion. “And there is a large number of people whom Ukraine considers missing,” he added in an interview broadcast late Wednesday by French TV channel France 2.

The last time Zelenskyy gave a figure for battlefield deaths, in early 2025, he said 46,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly said his country needs security guarantees from the U.S. and Europe to deter any postwar Russian attacks.

Ukrainians must feel that there is genuine progress toward peace and “not toward a scenario in which the Russians exploit everything to their advantage and continue their strikes,” Zelenskyy said on social media late Wednesday.

Last year saw a 31% increase in Ukrainian civilian casualties compared with 2024, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch said in a report published Wednesday.

Almost 15,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and just over 40,000 wounded since the start of the war through last December, according to the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.

In other developments:

Russian troops have lost access to their Starlink satellite internet terminals on the front line, Ukrainian Economic Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Thursday, after Ukraine asked Elon Musk’s SpaceX to help deny Russia use of the service in Ukraine.

Russian forces have consequently lost command-and-control capabilities and navigation for drones, and assaults have stopped in many sectors, according to Fedorov’s adviser Serhii Beskrestnov. Russian officials made no immediate comment.

Ukraine is registering its civilian and military Starlink users on a database, allowing approved devices to function while unregistered terminals are disabled inside Ukraine.

Also, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said during a visit to Kyiv that he agreed with Zelenskyy to develop the joint production of ammunition at plants in their countries.

Zelenskyy said Poland plans to increase supplies to Ukraine of liquefied natural gas, and the countries are exploring an exchange of weaponry, with Kyiv possibly receiving Polish MiG fighter jets and Warsaw receiving Ukrainian drones.

Russia fired 183 drones and two ballistic missiles at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force. Three people were injured, officials said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 95 Ukrainian drones overnight over several regions, the Azov Sea and Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

Burrows reported from London.

乌克兰基辅——美国和俄罗斯周四同意恢复四年多来首次高级别军事对话，这是自唐纳德·特朗普总统重返总统职位并寻求结束乌克兰战争以来，两国关系升温的又一迹象。

2021年底，随着莫斯科和华盛顿之间的紧张局势加剧，两国高层军事沟通中断，俄罗斯于2022年2月全面入侵乌克兰。随后，特朗普竞选连任，承诺将迅速结束冲突。他的许多和平方案都严重偏袒克里姆林宫，包括要求乌克兰向俄罗斯割让领土。

美国欧洲司令部在一份声明中表示，恢复的沟通渠道“将为双方继续努力实现持久和平提供持续的军事联系”。该协议是在俄美两国高级军事官员于阿联酋首都举行的会晤中达成的。

美国陆军上将阿列克苏斯·格林克维奇是驻欧洲美军和北约部队的指挥官，他当时正在阿布扎比，美国、俄罗斯和乌克兰官员就结束战争举行的会谈已进入第二天。

与此同时，莫斯科加大了对乌克兰电网的攻击力度，显然是为了剥夺平民的电力供应，削弱公众对这场战争的支持。与此同时，沿着蜿蜒穿过乌克兰东部和南部地区、长约 1000 公里（600 英里）的前线，敌对行动仍在继续。

努力缓解紧张局势

恢复军事热线标志着双方努力缓和战争开始后急剧升级的紧张局势，并避免俄美军队发生冲突。

在 2023 年 3 月发生的一起类似事件中，美国军方称，两架俄罗斯战斗机向一架空军 MQ-9“死神”无人机倾倒燃料后，其中一架在国际空域飞行时撞到了它的螺旋桨，随后美军将其抛弃在黑海。

莫斯科否认其战机击落了无人机，声称无人机是在进行急转弯时坠毁的。克里姆林宫表示，其战机是对俄罗斯在克里米亚附近地区设立的禁飞区遭到侵犯做出反应。

莫斯科多次对美国和其他北约飞机在黑海上空的侦察飞行表示担忧，一些俄罗斯官员指责美国的侦察飞行帮助收集情报，使乌克兰得以打击俄罗斯目标。

北约成员国越来越担心盟国领空遭到入侵。一些欧洲官员称，这些事件是莫斯科在试探北约的反应。

9月，一群俄罗斯无人机飞入波兰领空，北约战机紧急升空拦截并击落部分无人机。这是自全面入侵以来北约与莫斯科的首次直接接触。当月晚些时候，北约战机护送三架俄罗斯战机撤离爱沙尼亚领空。

俄乌两国经谈判交换战俘

据出席会议的乌克兰国家安全与国防委员会主席鲁斯捷姆·乌梅罗夫称，周四，莫斯科和基辅代表团在阿布扎比与美国特使史蒂夫·威特科夫和特朗普的女婿贾里德·库什纳会合。

他们也参加了上个月在同一地点举行的会谈，当时特朗普政府试图引导俄罗斯和乌克兰达成和解。

官方尚未透露任何有关磋商进展的信息。

然而，在周四的会谈之后，俄罗斯和乌克兰表示他们进行了战俘交换。

俄罗斯国防部称，已从乌克兰俘虏中接回157名俄罗斯军人，以及在基辅入侵俄罗斯库尔斯克地区期间被俘的3名俄罗斯公民。乌克兰官员则表示，已有150名乌克兰军人和7名平民从俄罗斯俘虏中返回。

俄罗斯国防部表示，获释的俄罗斯士兵目前正在白俄罗斯接受医疗救助，之后将被送回俄罗斯“接受治疗和康复”。

乌克兰人权监察员德米特罗·卢比涅茨表示，从俄罗斯战俘营返回的150名军人中，有18人“被俄罗斯非法判刑”。他还说，“总体而言，获释人员的心理状况不佳，有些人严重营养不良。”

泽连斯基称，有55000名乌克兰士兵在战争中丧生。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基表示，自俄罗斯入侵以来，已有5.5万名乌克兰士兵阵亡。他在周三晚间法国电视二台播出的采访中补充说：“还有大量人员被乌克兰认定为失踪。”

泽连斯基上一次给出战场死亡人数是在2025年初，当时他说有46000名乌克兰士兵阵亡。

泽连斯基曾多次表示，俄罗斯需要美国和欧洲的安全保障，以阻止战后俄罗斯的任何袭击。

泽连斯基周三晚些时候在社交媒体上表示，乌克兰人必须感受到和平进程取得了真正的进展，“而不是俄罗斯人利用一切为自己谋利并继续发动袭击的局面”。

人权观察组织周三发布的一份报告称，去年乌克兰平民伤亡人数比 2024 年增加了 31%。

据联合国乌克兰人权监测团统计，自战争爆发至去年12月，已有近15000名乌克兰平民丧生，超过40000人受伤。

其他进展：

乌克兰经济部长米哈伊洛·费多罗夫周四表示，在乌克兰请求埃隆·马斯克的SpaceX公司帮助阻止俄罗斯在乌克兰使用该服务后，俄罗斯军队在前线失去了对其星链卫星互联网终端的访问权限。

据费多罗夫的顾问谢尔盖·别斯克列斯特诺夫称，俄军因此失去了无人机的指挥控制能力和导航能力，许多地区的进攻行动已经停止。俄罗斯官员尚未对此置评。

乌克兰正在将民用和军用 Starlink 用户登记到数据库中，允许已获批准的设备在乌克兰境内运行，而未注册的终端则在乌克兰境内被禁用。

此外，波兰总理唐纳德·图斯克在访问基辅期间表示，他已与泽连斯基达成一致，将在两国工厂开展联合弹药生产。

泽连斯基表示，波兰计划增加对乌克兰的液化天然气供应，两国正在探讨武器交换，基辅可能会获得波兰的米格战斗机，而华沙可能会获得乌克兰的无人机。

据乌克兰空军称，俄罗斯连夜向乌克兰发射了183架无人机和两枚弹道导弹。官员表示，事件造成三人受伤。

俄罗斯国防部表示，其防空部队一夜之间在多个地区、亚速海和克里米亚（俄罗斯于 2014 年非法吞并）上空击落了 95 架乌克兰无人机。

伯罗斯从伦敦报道。