BY EMMANUEL OGBONNA
A Ukrainian delegation was traveling to Geneva on Monday for another round of U.S.-brokered negotiations with Russian officials, as both sides prepare to mark the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine next week.
The two-day meeting in Switzerland, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, comes amid tempered expectations. Despite Washington’s push for a settlement by June, diplomats and analysts see little indication that either side is prepared to soften core positions, particularly on the question of territory — the most contentious issue of the war.
Russian forces currently occupy significant swaths of eastern and southern Ukraine, and Moscow has signaled that any agreement must recognize what it describes as “new realities on the ground.” Kyiv has consistently rejected territorial concessions, insisting that sovereignty and internationally recognized borders are non-negotiable foundations of any durable peace.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian defenders remain engaged in a grinding war of attrition along a roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line. Russia’s larger military continues to apply pressure in eastern sectors, relying on artillery barrages and incremental advances, while Ukraine seeks to blunt assaults through defensive fortifications and precision strikes.
At the same time, the conflict has evolved into a deep-strike contest. Ukrainian forces have expanded their use of long-range drones capable of reaching deep into Russian territory, targeting oil refineries, fuel depots and military infrastructure. Russian authorities reported a surge in such attacks over the weekend.
Alexander Bogomaz, governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, said Monday that air defenses had intercepted 229 Ukrainian drones over the previous 24 hours. He described it as an unprecedented concentration of drone activity for a single Russian region in one day. Kyiv did not immediately comment on the claim.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russia launched 62 long-range strike drones and six missiles of various types overnight, continuing a pattern of aerial bombardments aimed at energy facilities, industrial sites and residential areas. Repeated strikes have strained Ukraine’s power grid and forced periodic electricity outages in major cities, even as the country works to harden infrastructure against future attacks.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Geneva talks would address “a broader range of issues related to the territories and other issues connected to the demands that we have,” without specifying Moscow’s conditions. Russian officials have previously demanded recognition of annexed regions and security guarantees limiting Ukraine’s future military alignment.
Efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to broker a ceasefire over the past year have yet to halt the fighting. Western officials and independent analysts argue that Russian President Vladimir Putin appears confident that time favors Moscow, betting that Western political support for Ukraine could erode and that sustained military pressure will gradually weaken Kyiv’s capacity to resist.
Ukraine’s delegation is expected to be led by Rustem Umerov, head of the country’s National Security and Defense Council. A photograph posted on Telegram by Gen. Kyrylo Budanov showed members of the Ukrainian negotiating team gathered beside a train before departure, underscoring the logistical realities of wartime travel. With Ukrainian airspace closed due to the conflict, even senior officials must undertake lengthy overland journeys to attend international meetings.
On the Russian side, the delegation will again be led by Vladimir Medinsky, who headed Moscow’s negotiators during the first direct peace talks in Istanbul in March 2022. Medinsky, a presidential adviser known for his hardline interpretation of Russian history and advocacy of the Kremlin’s war aims, is joined by senior officials including Igor Kostyukov and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, according to Peskov.
In parallel to the political negotiations, Kirill Dmitriev, a Kremlin envoy, is expected to hold separate discussions with U.S. representatives on economic cooperation. Both Moscow and Kyiv have sought to frame potential postwar reconstruction and investment opportunities as incentives for Washington’s continued engagement.
It was not immediately clear which American officials would attend the Geneva meetings. At previous rounds of talks in Abu Dhabi, the U.S. delegation included envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, reflecting the Trump administration’s preference for a smaller, tightly coordinated negotiating team.
Any tentative understandings reached in Geneva would require approval from national leaders before becoming binding. Both Kyiv and Moscow have indicated that their negotiators will report back to their respective presidents before endorsing any compromise.
As the war approaches its fourth year, the diplomatic track remains overshadowed by continuing hostilities. With neither side signaling readiness for major concessions and fighting persisting across land, air and sea, the Geneva talks are widely viewed as another incremental step in a protracted effort to test whether a negotiated end to Europe’s largest land war in decades remains achievable.
Original article
Comments