Ukraine war talks in Geneva end without agreement

GENEVA: Ukraine and Russia made some progress at US-mediated talks in Geneva, but did not find a compromise on the key issue of territory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday. The United States has been pushing for an end to the nearly four-year war, which has killed tens of thousands and destroyed much of eastern and southern Ukraine, but Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over who gets what land in a post-war settlement.
Russia 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 Kyiv does not cave at the negotiating table. But Ukraine has rejected this demand, which is politically and militarily fraught, and signalled it will not sign a deal without security guarantees that deter Russia from invading again. 'We can see that some groundwork has been done, but for now the positions differ, because the negotiations were not easy,' Zelensky said in a message to journalists after the talks had finished.
The two sides agreed on 'almost all issues' related to a ceasefire monitoring mechanism which will involve the United States, Zelensky said. But sensitive issues related to the fate of occupied territory in Ukraine's east and the future status of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant remained unresolved, Zelensky added.
The head of Russia's delegation said the talks were 'difficult, but business-like' and that further negotiations were planned for the future. Russia launched its full-scale attack of Ukraine in February 2022. The ensuing conflict has resulted in a tidal wave of destruction that has left entire cities in ruins, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians dead and forced millions of people to flee their homes.
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 led Kyiv's side. Umerov said the talks were 'intensive and substantive', in a brief statement to reporters after. He said the next step was to try to reach a level of consensus to 'submit the developed decisions for consideration by the presidents'.
Trump put pressure on Ukraine on Monday to make a deal, saying they 'better come to the table, fast'. But Zelensky told Axios on Tuesday it was 'not fair' that Ukraine — and not Russia — was facing more pressure, adding that lasting peace would not be achieved if 'victory' was just handed to Moscow. 'I hope it is just his tactics and not the decision,' Zelensky said.
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 attack. Ukraine says handing Russia more territory will effectively 'reward' Russia for invading and embolden it to attack again. Russian drone and artillery attacks overnight and late Tuesday wounded at least one person and caused damage to buildings, according to Ukrainian regional authorities.
Zelensky said officials from Britain, France, Germany and Italy were also in Geneva for talks on the sidelines with the Ukrainians, as he said European participation was 'indispensable' if any final agreement is to be sustainable. Russia has been slowly seizing territory across the sprawling front line for months, claiming control of villages in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and northern Sumy region on Wednesday. But its wartime economic worries are mounting, with growth stagnating and a ballooning budget deficit as sanction-hit oil revenues drop to a five-year low.
Meanwhile, Ukraine on Wednesday sanctioned Belarus's leader Alexander Lukashenko for providing material assistance to Russia in its attack and enabling the 'killing of Ukrainians.' 'Today Ukraine applied a package of sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko, and we will significantly intensify countermeasures against all forms of his assistance in the killing of Ukrainians,' President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement.
Russia has also said it is stationing Oreshnik missiles in Belarus, a feared hypersonic ballistic weapon that Putin has claimed is impervious to air defences. It has twice been fired on Ukraine during the war — launched from bases in Russia — though caused minimal damage as experts said it was likely fitted with dummy warheads both times. Zelensky also accused Lukashenko of helping Moscow avoid Western sanctions.