As Ukraine and Russia confirm new round of US peace talks, Zelenskyy says it’s up to Trump

Kyiv – The governments of Russia and Ukraine confirmed Friday that they will participate in the third round of US-led peace talks next week, on February 17 and 18 in Geneva. There have already been two talks under this tripartite structure so far this year, held in Abu Dhabi, but next week’s session will be the first in the European world, and will come a few days earlier. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine entering its fifth year.

Neither side has expressed hope that the talks will lead to a comprehensive ceasefire, but there has been progress on other issues. Most notably, the two sides agreed to a temporary moratorium on attacks on energy infrastructure in late January, and after the last round of negotiations, they the first exchange of prisoners in five months.

The mere fact that the negotiations have continued, and that progress has been made in the groups sitting at the table, has also raised room for progress.

But there has been plenty of skepticism in Kyiv since the talks began.

President Trump said the suspension of strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure would last a week. But it ended just four days later, with Russia striking Ukraine with a mass of 450 drones and more than 60 missiles.

Asked by reporters in Kyiv this week whether future negotiations might produce at least a permanent agreement, even if it was still limited by strikes on the electrical infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: “We have not received any response from the Russians. If anything, one can say the opposite – we have received responses in the form of drones and missile attacks. This shows that they are not ready now.”

The composition of the discussion groups, which some analysts look to as an indicator of potential progress on many technical issues, has also changed.

At both meetings in Abu Dhabi, the Ukrainian delegation included Kyrylo Budanov, the former head of military intelligence who now serves as Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, while the Russian delegation was led by Igor Kostyukov, the head of GRU military intelligence.

“When soldiers meet soldiers, they can develop, speak the same language,” Yuriy Sak, an adviser to the Ministry of Industry of Ukraine, told CBS News last week. “Strong measures and measures to ensure security – soldiers on both sides are ready to discuss.”

Next week in Geneva, however, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky will replace Kostyukov as head of the Russian delegation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

Medinsky led the Russian party in talks with Ukrainian officials in March 2022, in Belarus and Istanbul, which went nowhere as his party made sweeping claims on Ukrainian territory and demanded that Kyiv give up its military power. He is known for writing highly nationalistic school textbooks questioning Ukraine’s right to exist, and for his close relationship with President Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskyy has it said The Trump administration wants both sides to agree on an agreement to end the war in June. But in Kyiv, officials are questioning whether Washington is ready to put the kind of pressure on Moscow that would make the timeline come true.

“As for whether I believe the war can be ended,” Zelenskyy told reporters this week, “it doesn’t depend only on Ukraine. It also depends on the United States, which must put pressure – forgive me for saying ‘must,’ but there is no other way to put it – must put pressure on Russia.