Ukraine war talks to resume in Geneva as US signals progress

GENEVA: Ukrainian and Russian negotiators were to resume a second round of peace talks in Geneva on Wednesday, as Washington’s top envoy signalled optimism in its bid to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

The talks are the latest diplomatic bid to halt the fighting which has killed hundreds of thousands, forced millions to flee and decimated much of eastern and southern Ukraine.

The United States has been pushing for an end to the nearly four-year war, but has failed to broker a compromise between Moscow and Kyiv on the key issue of territory.

Two previous rounds of negotiations between the two sides in Abu Dhabi failed to yield a breakthrough.

But US envoy Steve Witkoff, representing the Trump administration at the talks, said President Donald Trump’s diplomatic efforts had made strides in Washington’s bid to end the conflict.

“President Trump’s success in bringing both sides of this war together has brought about meaningful progress,” he wrote on X, without elaborating.

“Both parties agreed to update their respective leaders and continue working towards a deal.”

The latest talks “lasted six hours” and “were very tense”, a source close to the Russian delegation told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address he was ready “to move quickly towards a worthy agreement to end the war”, but questioned whether Russia was serious about peace.

“What do they want?” he added, accusing them of prioritising missile strikes over “real diplomacy”.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with the ensuing conflict resulting in a tidal wave of destruction that has left entire cities in ruins.

Breakthrough hopes low

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

Ukrainian national security secretary Rustem Umerov was leading Kyiv’s side and said negotiations would continue Wednesday.

He thanked Washington for its mediation and said he informed European allies of the outcomes from the first round of talks, which he said had focused on “practical issues and the mechanics of possible solutions” to the conflict.

“I have concluded a separate meeting with representatives of the United States and European partners –- France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Switzerland,” he wrote on Telegram.

“We discussed the results of today’s round of negotiations and aligned our approaches on further steps.”

Zelensky has repeatedly said his country is being asked to make disproportionate compromises compared to Russia.

Trump put pressure on Ukraine on Monday to make a deal, saying they “better come to the table, fast”.

Zelensky told Axios on Tuesday it was “not fair” that Trump kept calling on Ukraine to broker a deal, adding that lasting peace would not be achieved if “victory” was just handed to Russia.

“I hope it is just his tactics and not the decision,” Zelensky said.

Hopes for a breakthrough remain low.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had told journalists to expect no major news from the first day of talks.

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 is pushing for full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region as part of any deal, and has threatened to take it by force if talks fail.

But Kyiv has rejected this deeply unpopular demand and signalled it will not sign a deal without security guarantees that deter Russia from invading again.

Russia has been slowly seizing territory across the sprawling front line for months.