Ukraine peace talks end in Geneva after Zelenskiy says Russia stalling
By John Revill and Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Geneva ended abruptly after just two hours on Wednesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the talks were “difficult” and accused Russia of deliberately trying to delay progress towards a deal that would end the four-year war.
US-brokered peace talks in Switzerland are being held after US President Donald Trump said twice in recent days that it was up to Ukraine and Zelenskiy to take the necessary steps to ensure the talks were successful.
“Yesterday’s meetings were really difficult, and we can say that Russia is trying to prolong negotiations that may have already reached the final stage,” Zelenskiy wrote on X on Wednesday, after media reports that the first day of talks had been tense.
Minutes after Zelenskiy’s statements, Russia’s state news agency RIA reported that the talks had ended. Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky told reporters in the lobby of the hotel where the talks were held in Geneva that further talks would be held soon, without specifying a date.
A Ukrainian official confirmed that the talks in Geneva had ended, saying they lasted “about two hours”.
In an interview published on US website Axios on Tuesday, Zelenskiy was quoted as saying that it was “not fair” for Trump to openly call on Ukraine, not Russia, to make concessions on negotiation terms for the peace plan.
Zelenskiy also said that any plan requiring Ukraine to give up any territory Russia has not captured in the eastern Donbas region would be rejected by Ukrainians if put to a referendum.
“I hope it’s not his decision, it’s just his tactic,” Axios reported Zelenskiy said in the interview.
“It’s better for Ukraine to come to the table as soon as possible. That’s all I’m telling you,” Trump told reporters on Monday.
RUSSIAN SOURCE SAID THE CONVERSATIONS ARE “VERY TENSE”
The talks took place just days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of its much smaller neighbor in 2022. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, millions fled their homes, and many of Ukraine’s cities, towns, and villages were devastated by conflict.
Russia denies allegations that it deliberately targeted civilians.
The head of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustam Umerov, said Tuesday’s talks focused on “practical issues and the mechanics of possible decisions,” without providing details.
But Russian news agencies quoted a source as saying Tuesday’s talks were “very tense” and lasted six hours in different bilateral and trilateral formats.
Ukrainian government bonds fell as much as 1.9 cents on the dollar in morning trading in Europe on news that progress in talks had stalled.
Before the talks began, Umerov downplayed hopes for a significant step forward in Geneva, saying the Ukrainian delegation was working “without excessive expectations.”
The Geneva meeting followed two rounds of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi that ended without a major breakthrough as the two sides remained distant on key issues such as control of territory in eastern Ukraine.
Russia occupies about 20% of Ukraine’s national territory, including Crimea and parts of the eastern Donbas region captured before a full-scale invasion in 2022. Recent air strikes on energy infrastructure have left hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without heat and electricity throughout a harsh winter.
(Reporting by John Revill, Olivia Le Poidevin and Ron Popeski; Editing by Michael Perry, Alexandra Hudson)
