US and Ukrainian officials wrapped up talks in Geneva on Thursday aimed at advancing efforts to end Russia’s four-year invasion of Ukraine, as Moscow indicated it was in no rush to finalise any agreement
US and Ukrainian officials wrapped up talks in Geneva on Thursday aimed at advancing efforts to end Russia’s four-year invasion of Ukraine, as Moscow indicated it was in no rush to finalise any agreement.
According to AFP, the US delegation departed Geneva’s Hotel des Bergues, which hosted the discussions, while Swiss agency ATS-Keystone published a photograph of Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, leaving the venue.
US President Donald Trump has been pressing for a resolution to Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II but has yet to broker a breakthrough between Moscow and Kyiv.
Earlier US-led rounds of negotiations in Geneva and Abu Dhabi failed to produce a compromise, particularly over territorial disputes.
Russia signalled it would not be rushed into a deal.
“Have you heard anything from us about deadlines? We have no deadlines, we have tasks. We are getting them done,” AFP quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying to state media.
Kyiv maintains that progress will require direct talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and said Thursday’s discussions were aimed at laying the groundwork for such a summit.
“Today in Geneva we continue our work within the framework of the negotiation process. A bilateral meeting with the American delegation has begun – with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner,” Umerov said earlier.
He added that Ukraine seeks to “synchronise positions” with Washington ahead of fresh trilateral talks scheduled for March.
Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev was also present at the Geneva venue, though Russian state media reported no meeting between him and the Ukrainian delegation. Dmitriev declined to comment when approached by reporters after leaving the talks, according to video circulated by pro-Kremlin outlets.
Drone, missile attacks
Hours before the talks, Russian forces launched around 420 drones and 39 missiles across Ukraine, injuring more than two dozen people in at least six regions, authorities said.
AFP reported hearing multiple explosions in central Kyiv shortly after officials issued alerts that Russia had begun its assault.
According to regional authorities, the strikes damaged an electricity substation in the southern Odesa region and hit a school building in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
“Destruction has been recorded in eight regions, with many private homes and apartment buildings damaged,” Zelenskyy said.
Also ahead of the meeting, Russia announced that it had returned the bodies of 1,000 killed Ukrainian soldiers to Ukraine, while Moscow received 35 Russian bodies in exchange.
The two sides regularly exchange the remains of killed serviceman, one of the few areas of cooperation between the warring countries.
Zelenskyy spoke with Trump on Wednesday ahead of the talks, with US envoys Witkoff and Kushner part of the 30-minute call.
“We expect this meeting (in Geneva) to create an opportunity to move talks to the leaders’ level. President Trump supports this sequence of steps,” Zelenskyy said.
After first refusing to negotiate with Russia, Zelenskyy has repeatedly said that the only way of resolving difficult issues, including territory, is through a meeting with Putin.
Talks between Moscow and Kyiv remain deadlocked over the fate of the Donbas – the industrial region in eastern Ukraine that has been the epicentre of the fighting.
Russia is pushing for full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, and has threatened to take it by force if Kyiv does not cave at the negotiating table.
But Ukraine has rejected the demand and signalled it would not sign a deal without security guarantees that deter Russia from invading again.
With inputs from agencies
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