Senior Ukrainian and Russian officials are to meet this week in Switzerland for a third round of talks brokered by the Trump administration, days before the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The two-day meeting, kicking off on Tuesday, is expected to mirror negotiations held earlier this month in Abu Dhabi, with representatives from Washington, Kyiv and Moscow in attendance.
Despite renewed US efforts to revive diplomacy, hopes for any sudden breakthrough remain low, with Russia continuing to press maximalist demands on Ukraine. While the Abu Dhabi discussions were largely focused on military ceasefire proposals, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said on Monday the Geneva talks would address a “broader range of issues”, including territorial questions and other demands put forward by Moscow.
Vladimir Medinsky, an arch-conservative Putin adviser who has previously questioned Ukrainian sovereignty, will head Russia’s negotiating team. He will be joined by Igor Kostyukov, the chief of Russian military intelligence, and the deputy foreign minister Mikhail Galuzin, among nearly two dozen officials, Moscow has said. Ukraine is expected to send the same delegation as in earlier rounds, to be led in Geneva by Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said diplomacy would be more effective with “justice and strength”. “Strength of pressure on the Russian Federation – sanctions pressure and steady, rapid support for the Ukrainian army and our air defence,” he wrote on social media. The choice of Switzerland marks the first time the talks will be held on European soil after earlier rounds in Abu Dhabi and Istanbul.
Trump, who throughout his second presidency has veered between criticising Moscow and Kyiv, reverted this weekend to placing blame on Zelenskyy, suggesting Ukraine was holding up efforts to end the war. “Zelenskyy needs to act. Russia wants to make a deal. He needs to act, otherwise he will miss a great opportunity,” he said in comments to reporters. But his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, speaking at the Munich Security Conference at the weekend, said Washington remained uncertain whether Russia was genuinely serious about ending the war in Ukraine.
Ahead of the Geneva meeting, Zelenskyy made clear Ukraine was unwilling to give up territory in the Donbas – a key Kremlin demand. He cited previous Russian land grabs in Chechnya, Georgia and Crimea and said that “allowing the aggressor to take something is a big mistake”. He said Russia was losing 30,000-35,000 people a month, with its attempt to seize more territory over four years of full-scale war staggeringly costly and mostly unsuccessful.
