Russia has launched a new combined drone and missile attack against Ukraine early this Tuesday, hours before they are resumed to end the conflict. kyiv and Moscow, with the mediation of Washington, plan to discuss in Geneva this Tuesday and Wednesday issues such as the territorial transfer that is blocking the progress of the talks.
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov on Monday, “the idea is to discuss a broader range of issues, including, in fact, the main ones. The main issues concern both the territories and everything else related to the demands we have raised.”
“We are working constructively, focused and without excessive expectations,” the head of the kyiv delegation, Rustem Umerov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, wrote on social networks. “Our task is to maximize those solutions that can bring us closer to sustainable peace.”
The three-way meetings in Switzerland, which follow the two previous rounds held in the United Arab Emirates, are held one week before four years of the start of the large-scale invasion, on February 24. In Abu Dhabi, the delegations managed to advance on military technical issues to define an exit strategy for the conflict, such as withdrawal mechanisms, ceasefire and conflict control.
US President Donald Trump is putting special pressure on kyiv. On board the Air Force OneTrump stated this Monday: “Well, we have great conversations. It’s going to be very easy. I mean, look, so far, Ukraine better come to the table quickly. That’s all I’m telling you.”
The big obstacles remain blocked. Especially, for what he is fighting for militarily and which he has not yet achieved, and the management of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, in an area occupied by Russia. On other issues of the 20-point document on which they are working, they have made progress. Among other issues, it is established that a part of the war front be frozen in the provinces of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. The Russians would withdraw from the areas they have occupied in the provinces of Sumi, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk. The Ukrainian army will not be able to have more than 800,000 soldiers and kyiv renounces its membership in NATO.
As a tangible result, in the second round of meetings only the exchange of prisoners of war was closed. The swap, the first of its kind in five months, allowed . On this occasion, the possibility of agreeing on a temporary truce on attacks on energy infrastructure is also being raised, in a week in which temperatures in Ukraine have once again plummeted to around -15ºC. Despite this, Moscow launched 365 drones and 24 missiles in the early hours of this Tuesday.
“For peace to be real and just, action must be directed at the only source of this aggression, because it is Moscow that continues with murders, massive attacks and offensives,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after reporting on the attacks.
The Ukrainian delegation “has been formed taking into account the military, political and security components of the process,” Umerov said. “The objective remains unchanged: a sustainable and lasting peace,” he stated on social networks.
Putin has taken a turn in the peace talks and instead of high-ranking military or diplomats, this time he has sent as chief negotiator a low-profile figure who exasperates the Ukrainians, Vladimir Medinski, head of the self-proclaimed Union of Russian Writers and official justifier of Russian imperialism.
Author of the propagandistic history books of Russian schools and accused of falsifying his resume, Medinsky is one of the “hard voices” in the Kremlin environment. With him at the helm, Türkiye’s peace talks last year failed miserably.
“I don’t think we can expect any kind of news today,” Peskov warned before the match. “As you know, the work is scheduled to continue tomorrow and, really, it will be in a regime closed to the press,” added the senior official.
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will again represent the Trump Administration in the talks. This week they plan to hold talks with Iran in the same Swiss city.
The United States pressures Ukraine to reach an agreement before the summer. kyiv balances to show its willingness to negotiate and not antagonize Washington, which has been impatient. At the same time, it clings to issues that it considers essential, such as the signing of security guarantees that allow it to guarantee that Moscow will not resume the military offensive after signing an agreement.
As Zelensky said, in an interview with Politico which he later reproduced on his social networks, the United States wants an agreement to be reached first and then those guarantees be signed. Zelensky, on the contrary, asks first to protect the security and sustainability of peace by signing guarantees. “What is there to fear? I don’t understand. We can sign the document on security guarantees for Ukraine with the leaders. It will be a strong signal to the people: the United States will help and support you, the Europeans will be with you if Russia comes again. And then you can talk to the Ukrainians about what they are prepared for.”
After a year of fruitless negotiations, Putin is approaching a decisive moment: continue the war or give up his objectives and leave Ukraine alive. The Russian economic crisis has worsened in the last year despite the optimistic claims of Russian propaganda. A third of businesses reported red numbers last year, inflation continues to skyrocket and closures have multiplied with the general increase in taxes since January for the war. According to the official statistics agency Rosstat, Russians live on the edge and food alone already accounts for 39% of their income.
