Ukrainian officials to meet American envoys this week ahead of proposed trilateral talks with Moscow.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Kyiv is preparing for renewed diplomatic efforts in March, including additional trilateral talks with Russia, following meetings with U.S. officials in Geneva this week.
Zelenskyy told reporters that Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, is scheduled to meet Thursday in Geneva with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump. Umerov’s press secretary, Diana Davytian, confirmed the Swiss city as the location of the talks.
Geneva is also expected to host a separate round of nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran the same day.
Zelenskyy said the upcoming discussions with U.S. representatives will focus on details of a potential postwar recovery plan for Ukraine and preparations for another round of trilateral talks involving Moscow. He added that Umerov has been tasked with raising the possibility of a prisoner exchange during the diplomatic outreach.
Ukraine is seeking to hold talks with Russian officials next week, Zelenskyy said.
A U.S.-backed push for negotiations has already brought Russian and Ukrainian representatives together earlier this year in Abu Dhabi and Geneva. Those discussions, however, have not resulted in a breakthrough as Russia’s full-scale invasion enters its fifth year.
Speaking Tuesday during events marking the fourth anniversary of the invasion, Zelenskyy said Russia has failed to defeat Ukraine or break its resolve despite sustained bombardment and a larger military force.
According to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, Ukrainian forces have recently pushed back Russian troops at several points along the roughly 1,250-kilometer front line in eastern Ukraine. The think tank described the advances as the most significant since 2024 but assessed they are unlikely to expand into broader offensives due to ongoing troop shortages. Analysts said the gains could complicate Russian plans for a potential spring-summer offensive.
Ukraine has continued near-nightly long-range drone strikes targeting military and infrastructure sites inside Russia. Early Wednesday, Gov. Vasily Anokhin of Russia’s Smolensk region said a Ukrainian drone strike on the Dorogobuzh fertilizer plant killed four workers and injured 10 others, sparking a fire at the facility.
Ukrainian authorities reported that Russia launched 115 strike drones overnight. In a village in the southern Zaporizhzhia district, a Russian strike killed four people and injured a child, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s chief envoy to Washington said Tuesday that the U.S. State Department has expressed concern over recent Ukrainian attacks on the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, which have affected U.S. oil interests in Kazakhstan.
As the diplomatic calendar intensifies, uncertainty remains over whether the latest round of engagement can narrow key differences between Kyiv and Moscow, even as both sides continue military operations along the front and beyond.
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