Russian and Ukrainian officials meet in Geneva for US-brokered talks
The talks are due to be held over two days.
Delegations from Moscow and Kyiv have met in Geneva for another round of US-brokered peace talks, a week before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
However, expectations for any breakthroughs in the scheduled two days of talks in Switzerland were low, with neither side apparently ready to budge from their positions on key territorial issues and future security guarantees, despite the United States setting a June deadline for a settlement.
The head of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustem Umerov, posted photos on social media of the three delegations at a horseshoe-shaped table, with the Ukrainian and Russian officials sitting across from each other.
US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner sat at the head of the table in front of US, Russian, Ukrainian and Swiss flags.
“The agenda includes security and humanitarian issues,” Mr Umerov said, adding that Ukrainians will work “without excessive expectations”.
Discussions on the future of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory are expected to be particularly tough, according to a person familiar with the talks who spoke to the Associated Press.
Russia is still insisting that Ukraine cede control of its Donbas region in the east.
Also in Geneva will be American, Russian and Ukrainian military chiefs, who will discuss how ceasefire monitoring might work after any peace deal, and what is needed to implement it, the person said.
During previous talks in Abu Dhabi in the UAE, military leaders looked at how a demilitarised zone could be arranged and how everyone’s militaries could talk to one another, the person added.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov cautioned against expecting developments on the first day of talks on Tuesday as they were set to continue on Wednesday. Moscow has provided few details of previous talks.
Ukraine’s short-handed army is locked in a war of attrition with Russia’s bigger forces along the roughly 750-mile front line. Ukrainian civilians are enduring Russian aerial barrages that repeatedly knock out power and destroy homes.
The future of the almost 20% of Ukrainian land that Russia occupies or still covets is a central question in the talks, as are Kyiv’s demands for post-war security guarantees with a US backstop to deter Moscow from invading again.
Mr Trump described the Geneva meeting as “big talks”.
“Ukraine better come to the table fast,” he told reporters late Monday as he flew back to Washington from his home in Florida.
It was not immediately clear what Mr Trump was referring to in his comment about Ukraine, which has committed to and taken part in negotiations in the hope of ending Russia’s devastating onslaught.
The Russian delegation is headed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adviser Vladimir Medinsky, who headed Moscow’s team of negotiators in the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in March 2022 and has forcefully pushed Mr Putin’s war goals.
Mr Medinsky has written several history books that claim to expose western plots against Russia and berate Ukraine.
The commander of the US military – and Nato forces – in Europe, Gen Alexus Grynkewich, and secretary of the US army Dan Driscoll will attend the meeting in Geneva on behalf of the US military and meet their Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, Col Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for the US commander said.
Overnight, Russia used almost 400 long-range drones and 29 missiles of various types to strike 12 regions of Ukraine, injuring nine people, including children, according to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Mr Zelensky said tens of thousands of residents were left without heating and running water in the southern port city of Odesa.
Mr Zelensky said Moscow should be “held accountable” for the relentless attacks, which he said undermine the US push for peace.
“The more this evil comes from Russia, the harder it will be for everyone to reach any agreements with them. Partners must understand this. First and foremost, this concerns the United States,” the Ukrainian leader said on social media late Monday.
“We agreed to all realistic proposals from the United States, starting with the proposal for an unconditional and long-term ceasefire,” Mr Zelensky noted.
