Russian, Ukrainian, and U.S. officials are scheduled to meet in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 17–18 for the third round of trilateral talks mediated by the United States, aimed at ending the ongoing war in Ukraine.
This will be the first meeting on European soil, following two previous rounds held in Abu Dhabi earlier this year. The Kremlin confirmed the news on Friday through spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, stating that the Russian delegation will be led by Kremlin adviser and chief peace negotiator Vladimir Medinsky.
During the earlier Abu Dhabi rounds, Admiral Igor Kostyukov, head of the Russian military intelligence agency GRU, represented Moscow. Those talks concluded with a prisoner exchange deal, in which each side released over 300 prisoners of war, but progress toward a formal peace agreement remained limited.
Key points of contention remain, including President Vladimir Putin’s demand that Ukraine withdraw all troops from parts of the Donbas region, which Russia does not fully control nearly four years after the full-scale invasion began. President Volodymyr Zelensky has firmly rejected this demand, despite pressure from the Trump administration to sign a peace deal swiftly.
Anonymous European and U.S. officials told Politico that Washington has informed Kyiv it will not finalize security guarantees until a peace agreement with Russia is signed, creating a major hurdle for Zelensky, who insists that any settlement be accompanied by Western security assurances.
Meanwhile, The Atlantic reported that Ukraine may consider relinquishing control over parts of eastern Donetsk, which, together with Luhansk, forms the Donbas region. Ukrainian advisors suggested a possible spring referendum where local citizens could vote on whether to approve a deal involving territorial concessions.
