Moscow, Kyiv set for Geneva peace talks amid Russian attacks

GENEVA: Russian and Ukrainian delegations are set for another round of talks on Tuesday in Geneva as part of the latest fraught push by the United States to end the four-year war.

US President Donald Trump is seeking to position himself as peacemaker of the conflict unleashed when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but two previous rounds of talks mediated by the White House have yielded no breakthroughs.

“Ukraine better come to the table, fast,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while en route to Washington.

Ukraine says Russia is unwilling to compromise on its sweeping territorial and political demands, and wants to keep fighting.

“Even on the eve of the trilateral meetings in Geneva, the Russian army has no orders other than to continue striking Ukraine. This speaks volumes about how Russia regards the partners’ diplomatic efforts,” Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky posted on social media Monday.

“Only with sufficient pressure on Russia and clear security guarantees for Ukraine can this war realistically be brought to an end,” he added.

The talks, which the Kremlin said will be held behind closed doors and with no media present, comes after two earlier rounds held this year in Abu Dhabi.

Sticking points

The war has spiralled into Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, with hundreds of thousands killed, millions forced to flee their homes in Ukraine and much of the eastern and southern part of the country scarred by war.

Russia occupies around one-fifth of Ukraine — including the Crimean peninsula it seized in 2014 — and areas that Moscow-backed separatists had taken prior to the 2022 invasion.

It wants Ukrainian troops to withdraw from swathes of heavily fortified and strategic territory as part of any peace deal.

Kyiv has rejected this deeply unpopular demand, which would be politically and militarily fraught, and has demanded robust security guarantees from the west before agreeing to any proposals with Russia.

Ukraine has recently made significant battlefield gains, recapturing 201 square kilometres (78 square miles) last week, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The counterattacks likely leveraged Russian forces’ lack of access to Starlink, which has disrupted communications, the ISW said.

The territorial gain is concentrated mainly around 80 kilometres east of the city of Zaporizhzhia, an area where Russian troops have otherwise made significant progress since last summer.

The centrally located region hosts Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which Russia currently controls — another sticking point in negotiations.

For the talks in Geneva, the Kremlin has reinstated nationalist hawk and former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky as its lead negotiator.

“This time, we plan to discuss a broader set of issues, focusing on key ones related to the territories and other demands,” a spokesperson for Vladimir Putin told reporters, including AFP, explaining the personnel change.

Kyiv’s team will be led by former defence minister Rustem Umerov, while the White House is expected to dispatch Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and businessman and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.