Russian-American woman Ksenia Karelina, who was serving a 12-year prison sentence for treason in Russia, was released as part of a prisoner exchange that saw her swapped for an accused smuggler held in the US.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X early on Thursday that Karelina had been released and was on her way to the United States.

“American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release,” Rubio said on X.

Russia and the U.S. carried out a prisoner swap early Thursday in Abu Dhabi in a sign of continuing confidence building, as the two sides pursue a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina was released from Kremlin custody in a prisoner swap with the United States Thursday morning.

Karelina was freed in exchange for German-Russian Arthur Petrov at a swap in Abu Dhabi, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

“She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release. @POTUS will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans,” he added.

The United Kingdom took steps on Tuesday to ramp up its defense spending ahead of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s meeting with President Donald Trump this week.

Starmer said that in the face of continued Russian aggression against Ukraine and, by extension, Europe, the UK will increase its defense spending to 2.5% of its gross domestic value, up from the 2.3% it currently spends – an increase that amounts to £13.4 billion, or nearly $17 billion more each year on defense.

In the five weeks since President Trump took office, the Atlantic Ocean has rarely looked wider.

A chasm has opened between the United States and its European allies over Trump's handling of Ukraine, Russia, Gaza and cross-border trade.

In almost every way, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will walk into the White House on Thursday as an alien in President Donald Trump’s MAGA universe: a former human rights lawyer, a onetime top prosecutor and, after vanquishing Conservatives in elections last summer, the United Kingdom’s most liberal leader in more than a decade.

Legacy media, Democrats, European politicians, and Ukrainian diplomats have been up in arms in recent weeks over the Trump administration’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine peace process, suggesting that the administration’s meetings with Russia diplomats somehow runs afoul of diplomatic norms, but such arrangements have plenty of precedent, even in the modern era.

Palestinian factions have signed a “national unity” agreement aimed at maintaining Palestinian control over Gaza once Israel’s war on the enclave concludes.

The deal, finalised on Tuesday in China after three days of intensive talks, lays the groundwork for an “interim national reconciliation government” to rule post-war Gaza, said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The agreement was signed by long-term rivals Hamas and Fatah, as well as 12 other Palestinian groups.

Opposing Palestinian factions agreed to form an interim national unity government during negotiations in China that ended on Tuesday with the signing of the Beijing Declaration, China's foreign ministry said.

Previous efforts to reconcile rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have failed to do so. The Beijing Declaration has yet to be tested on the ground.

The agreement displays China's growing influence in the Middle East. Last year, it brokered a breakthrough peace deal between longstanding regional foes Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Palestinian rivals including Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a unity government at talks hosted by China, Beijing said on Tuesday, a deal meant to deliver a post-war Gaza administration but quickly rejected by Israel as it seeks to crush Hamas.

Analysts said the agreement would prove hard to implement, with complications including the deep enmity between Palestinian factions and Western opposition to Hamas having any role in governance. No timetable was declared for implementation.