Vladimir Putin sent one of his spy chiefs to peace talks to meet the same Ukrainian spymaster he has been accused of plotting to assassinate. Dmitry Minaev, head of counter-intelligence at the FSB, met Ukraine's former head of intelligence Kyrylo Budanov for peace talks over the past two days - seven years after Minaev is alleged to have plotted to kill Budanov.
Alleged assassination plot
Minaev's men are alleged to have tried to plant a bomb beneath Budanov's car in Kyiv in 2019, but it exploded as it was being installed and two would-be assassins were arrested. After the incident, Ukrainian officials interviewed by The Wall Street Journal linked Minaev's department to the unsuccessful attempt to kill Budanov, who went on to head Kyiv intelligence and is now adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky.
One security source told the Mirror: "The Kremlin will have planned who to send to the next negotiation weeks in advance and deploying Minaev will have been deliberate. It is much harder to strike a peace agreement and make compromises if you know the chap on the other side of the table has tried to blow you to bits."
Talks and prisoner swap
As the meeting ended, Ukraine and Russia agreed to their largest-ever prisoner swap as talks aimed at ending the war ended after two days. It is believed the warring countries have agreed to free as many as 1,500 people each who have been held as prisoners of war for months and even years by both sides.
The Abu Dhabi negotiations came to an end as Russia launched a major drone attack of 160 kamikaze weapons and even two missiles which strayed into Moldova. US-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine failed to produce any solid hope of a peace deal being struck in the near-future.
Military situation
It is believed Russian President Vladimir Putin feels his war can outlast western support for Ukraine despite chronic recruitment shortfalls. He has shown little interest in bringing hostilities to an end without occupying Ukraine, knowing that to do so would signal the end for his rule.
It is thought currently Russia is able to sign up around just 1,000 troops each day, but more than that number are killed or injured in 24 hours regularly. In one day alone last week it was believed that Russia lost 2,500 troops to death or injury during ferocious fighting across Eastern Ukraine.
The Banderol hybrid weapons such as those fired last night by Moscow - a cross between a cruise missile and a drone - were inside Moldova airspace for several minutes before heading back into Ukraine. Russia's Banderol is a fixed-wing, jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with folding wings, designed to fly at low altitudes and can fly at 350 mph. Casualties are unknown.
US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner said: "One of the positives is that we agreed that we're going to have the biggest humanitarian release of prisoners after two days of US talks in Abu Dhabi."
