An exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine may occur within two or three weeks

The Russian TASS news agency quoted Russian Lieutenant General Alexander Zorin as saying that a large-scale prisoner exchange agreed upon by Moscow and Kiev during the talks that took place in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday may be implemented during the next two or three weeks. TASS, citing Zorin, also reported that the exchange would include more than a thousand prisoners from each side.

Chief Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said that Russia would continue talks with Ukraine after the negotiations, but he stressed that Moscow saw no justification for meeting with the Europeans on this matter. Medinsky told reporters: “It is certain that the discussion will continue,” adding that Moscow “has not received a single peace initiative or a single concrete proposal for peace from European countries.” So it is not clear what can be discussed with them.

On the other hand, a senior Ukrainian negotiator said on Wednesday that the peace talks had witnessed “positive momentum” towards reaching a solution before the end of the year. David Arakhamia, a close ally of President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that the talks should be multilateral, not tripartite, adding that Europe should be represented in them.

US envoy Jared Kushner said that he and his colleague Steve Witkoff will go to Moscow tomorrow, Thursday, and then they will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Irish capital, Dublin, after their trip to Russia. Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, added that the talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi are a “good first step.”

The Russian-Ukrainian talks, which are being held under American mediation, have resumed in Abu Dhabi in an effort to reach a settlement of the dispute between Moscow and Kiev, according to what the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustam Umarov, announced on Wednesday.

Umarov’s post on the Telegram platform said: “We begin the second day of negotiations. “Initially, a tripartite meeting will be held with the United States and Russia, and then we will hold a separate meeting with our European partners.”

During talks with Russia, mediated by the United States, Ukraine insisted that Moscow stop the fighting before any discussion about future security arrangements for Europe, according to what a source in the Ukrainian delegation told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday.

In a phone call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin receives constant reports from the Russian delegation about the negotiations.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will chair an emergency government meeting, today, Wednesday, after hundreds of schools were closed across the country, following a bomb threat made by an anonymous email, while hundreds of schools in Britain and Ireland received similar warnings that turned out to be false.

Meloni and the intelligence services will discuss measures aimed at preventing further unrest and similar incidents, according to an official in her office, according to what Bloomberg News reported today.

Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said that students in more than 300 schools were asked to leave the buildings, after a threat was sent by email. The authorities did not reveal the source of this email.

Cyber ​​attacks are reported to be increasing in Europe, with targets including flights and supermarkets.

The attackers disrupted a range of activities, including operations at funeral homes and freezers in supermarkets, according to Bloomberg News.

Meloni and her officials blamed pro-Russian hackers for the recent cyber attacks that also affected Foreign Minister Antonio Taiani, after an increase in hybrid sabotage operations from entities suspected of being allied with the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a related context, the authorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom and the authorities in the Republic of Ireland announced that a threatening message had been sent to a large number of schools via e-mail today, Wednesday, and it turned out to be false and originating outside Britain, according to Reuters news agency.

Irish police said they were aware of a “general message” sent to several schools, and that they had concluded that the threat had no credibility and there was no need to evacuate the schools.

Police in Northern Ireland said that more than 300 schools also received a threatening email, which was treated as false, adding that the email came from outside Britain.

Assistant Police Chief Anthony McNally said: “We take incidents of this type seriously, and we understand the concern prevailing in the community, among schools, among students and parents.”

Irish police noted that they had recently witnessed “an increase in the activity of false and unreliable bomb threats,” and advised the public to contact the authorities if they received such threats.

Police in Scotland explained that the messages were immediately considered false and were treated as such. She added in a statement: “Our investigations found that there is no indication that she poses a credible threat, nor that there is any danger to people.”

The Kremlin announced on Wednesday that Russia has no connection to a US Army soldier who was arrested in Britain on suspicion of assisting Russian intelligence.

The 41-year-old soldier, who was entrusted with important information, was arrested yesterday, Tuesday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, in response to a question in this regard: “We have absolutely nothing to do with this matter, and it has nothing to do with us at all.”

British police announced, on Tuesday, the arrest of a US Army soldier in Britain on suspicion of aiding Russian intelligence services, after the United States withdrew its aircraft from British military bases due to another threat apparently issued by Iran, according to the Reuters news agency.

Kash Patel, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), said that the man’s arrest “is related to espionage charges, which raises grave concern for the United States and its allies.”

Brigadier General Sean Stinchon, Commander-in-Chief of the US Army Counterintelligence Command, added: “The behavior attributed to a high-ranking soldier who was entrusted with sensitive information represents a sober reminder that internal threats are real and ongoing.”

British police said that the arrest, which took place on Tuesday near the city of Gloucester in western England, “is not related to any other investigations conducted by anti-terrorism police,” but it occurred the day after the United States withdrew refueling planes from a British air base, in the second such evacuation in three months.

The planes left the Royal Air Force base in Mildenhall, eastern England, on Monday, which the Wall Street Journal said was in response to a threat from Iran. Last September, the United States withdrew bombers that were being used to strike Iran from the British Royal Air Force's Fairford base, for security reasons related to an incident that the police linked to Iran, which denied any connection to the attacks or incidents that occurred in Britain.

The US Army soldier, who was arrested today, was detained on suspicion of committing crimes under Articles 1 and 3 of the National Security Act, which relate to obtaining or disclosing protected information and assisting a foreign intelligence service. Police said the country to which these allegations relate is Russia.