The US and Russia have agreed to restore high-level military-to-military communication that was suspended in the fall of 2021 ahead of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the US military’s European Command. announced on Thursday
The agreement was reached while the head of US European Command, General Alexus G. Grynkewich, was in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. He was taking part in three-way talks between the US, Russia and Ukraine aimed at ending the nearly four-year war.
“Maintaining military-to-military dialogue is an important factor for global stability and peace, which can only be achieved through force, and provides the means to increase transparency and de-escalation,” the European Command said in a statement.
The resumption of inter-military dialogue coincided with the expiration the last treaty governing nuclear weapons Between the USA and Russia, the biggest nuclear powers in the world.
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The announcement came after the second round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine, facilitated by the US
The two-day talks included US presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, as well as Secretary of the Navy Dan Driscoll and Grynkewich.
In a statement on Thursday, Witkoff announced the first prisoner exchange Between Ukraine and Russia in five months. He said the negotiations are “precise and fruitful”, and “while important work remains, steps like this demonstrate that sustained diplomatic engagement is yielding tangible results and advancing efforts to end the war in Ukraine”.
Since the start of his second term, Mr Trump has pushed for an end to the war in Ukraine, which will enter its fourth year on February 24. But the negotiations have been hampered, in large part, by the occupied Ukrainian territory that Russia wants to keep as part of any peace deal.
The death toll continues to rise. President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky he said this week It is estimated that 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers died in the fighting. Strategic and International Study Centers a last month’s report 325,000 Russian forces killed by 2022.