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Ukraine, Russia End Geneva Talks with Military Progress but No Ceasefire Deal

Ukraine, Russia End Geneva Talks with Military Progress but No Ceasefire Deal
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Ukrainian and Russian negotiators ended a second day of U.S.-mediated talks in Geneva on Wednesday after just two hours, with all sides acknowledging “difficult” discussions and no breakthrough toward ending Russia’s nearly four-year-old full-scale war on Ukraine nytimes +1. While officials pointed to progress on technical military issues, fundamental political questions over territory and security guarantees remained unresolved rferl +1.

The two-day session, held February 17–18 and led by Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov, Russian envoy Vladimir Medinsky and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, followed earlier rounds in Abu Dhabi and came days before the war’s fourth anniversary washingtonpost +1. Russia currently occupies about one-fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea and large parts of Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions, a territorial reality that framed the talks and underpinned their sharpest disputes dw.

Technical Progress on Ceasefire Mechanics, But No Deal

Negotiators devoted much of the Geneva meetings to what officials described as the “military-technical” track, including potential ceasefire monitoring, prisoner exchanges and mechanisms to enforce any future halt in fighting rferl. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the military side had “basically agreed on pretty much everything there,” including arrangements that would “definitely involve the American side” in monitoring a possible ceasefire rferl.

U.S. envoy Witkoff characterised the outcome as “meaningful progress” and said delegations would now brief their leaders and prepare for further rounds rferl. Ukraine’s Umerov echoed that there was “progress but no details can be disclosed at this stage,” underscoring both the sensitivity of the emerging framework and the absence of a concrete ceasefire or timetable washingtonpost. Russian negotiator Medinsky called the talks “tough but businesslike” and confirmed additional meetings were planned, without specifying when dw.

Fighting Intensifies as Political Sticking Points Harden

Even as diplomats met at Geneva’s Intercontinental Hotel, Russian forces launched large-scale overnight attacks on Ukraine, including barrages reported as 29 missiles and 396 drones in one strike and, ahead of Wednesday’s session, a separate assault involving one ballistic missile and 126 drones, leaving civilians dead and causing widespread power outages washingtonpost. Western leaders condemned the continued bombardment during peace talks, while Ukrainian officials said the strikes undercut trust in Moscow’s intentions washingtonpost +1.

The heaviest disagreements in Geneva centred on political and territorial issues: the status of occupied areas in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, the future of Crimea, and long-term security guarantees for Kyiv, including any role for NATO or Western troops nytimes +1. Zelenskyy has repeatedly warned that Ukrainians “will never forgive” a settlement that formalises Russian gains or trades land for peace, a stance that leaves little room to accept Moscow’s demands for recognition of its control over occupied territories dw. Analysts and former diplomats cautioned that Russia appeared unwilling to significantly soften those demands, fuelling concern that the Kremlin was negotiating tactically rather than genuinely narrowing the gap rferl +1.

Looking Ahead

The Geneva round closed with both the promise of continued technical work and the stark reminder that the war’s core political questions remain unsettled. With Russia signaling further talks and Washington eager to translate “meaningful progress” on military mechanisms into a broader framework, the next sessions will test whether negotiators can bridge the chasm between a ceasefire on paper and a peace acceptable to Kyiv’s public and Moscow’s leadership washingtonpost +1. For now, the short, tense meetings — and the missiles that flew as they convened — underscored how far a negotiated end to Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II still is.

nytimes New York Times; washingtonpost Al Jazeera; rferl RFE/RL; dw Kyiv Post, DW.