New Round of US-Brokered Russia-Ukraine Talks Scheduled for Geneva
A new round of US-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine is set to take place in Geneva next week, officials from both Moscow and Kyiv confirmed on Friday. The meeting, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, comes just days before the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced the talks in a statement carried by Russian news agencies, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's communications adviser, Dmytro Lytvyn, confirmed the new round of negotiations. The talks represent another attempt to find diplomatic solutions amid ongoing hostilities.
Background of Continued Conflict
The Geneva talks occur against a backdrop of persistent fighting along the approximately 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line. Russia continues its relentless bombardment of civilian areas and Ukraine's power grid, while Kyiv maintains almost daily long-range drone attacks targeting war-related assets on Russian soil.
Previous US-led efforts to find consensus on ending the war, including two rounds of talks in Abu Dhabi, have failed to resolve difficult issues such as the future of Ukraine's Donbas industrial heartland, which remains largely occupied by Russian forces. President Zelenskyy revealed last week that the United States has given both nations a June deadline to reach a deal, though previous deadlines set by US President Donald Trump have passed without significant consequences.
Key Figures and Delegations
Russian President Vladimir Putin's adviser Vladimir Medinsky, who headed Moscow's negotiation team during the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in March 2022, will return to lead Russia's delegation in Geneva. This marks Medinsky's re-entry into formal negotiations after previous rounds focused primarily on military issues such as potential buffer zones and ceasefire monitoring.
Ukraine's delegation will again be led by Rustem Umerov, the country's National Security and Defense Council chief. The American representatives for the Geneva talks remain unspecified, though during previous negotiations in the United Arab Emirates, the Trump administration was represented by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Military Context and International Perspectives
Russia's larger military has captured approximately 20% of Ukrainian territory since hostilities began in 2014 and the full-scale invasion in 2022. However, its battlefield progress has been slow and costly in terms of troops and armor losses.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte commented on the situation, stating that "the Russians are not winning (the war) as some are thinking." He described Russian advances as moving at "the speed of a garden snail" with "staggering losses."
Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy visited Munich, Germany, on Friday, touring the first joint Ukrainian-German drone production company. Germany has been a significant supporter of Ukraine throughout the conflict, and Zelenskyy participated in bilateral and multilateral meetings at the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of top international security figures.
Ongoing Violence During Negotiations
The grim war of attrition continues even as diplomatic efforts proceed. Overnight from Thursday to Friday, a Russian strike killed three brothers aged 8 to 19 in eastern Ukraine, according to authorities. Their mother and grandmother survived but sustained multiple injuries.
In Odesa, one person was killed and six more injured in a Russian strike targeting the city's port and energy infrastructure. The Russian Defense Ministry reported shooting down 58 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions and annexed Crimea during the same period, with 43 intercepted in the Volgograd region where three people, including a 12-year-old boy, were injured by falling drone debris.
Ukraine has recently intensified targeting of the Volgograd oil refinery, highlighting the expanding geographical scope of the conflict even as negotiators prepare for another attempt at diplomatic resolution in Geneva.
