U.S.-brokered Ukraine-Russia talks wrap up with little to show, Zelenskyy accusing Putin of playing for time

U.S.-mediated peace talks between Ukraine and Russia wrapped up Wednesday in Geneva after only about two hours on the second day of the negotiations. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said progress toward a deal to end Russia’s four-year war against his country was “uneven,” and he accused Moscow of playing for time. 

“Russia is trying to drag out negotiations that could have reached the final stage,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post Wednesday, reiterating his longheld stance that Ukraine’s sovereignty and internationally recognized borders were nonnegotiable. 

The two-day talks in Switzerland focused primarily on territorial issues, which have been the primary hurdle to a peace deal for many months. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown no willingness to drop his demand for Ukraine to formally and permanently cede occupied territory in eastern Ukraine as part of a peace agreement. 

Mr. Trump has pushed Ukraine and Russia to reach a deal, and he’s suggested that Kyiv may have to give up some of its territory in exchange for peace, despite Zelenskyy and America’s NATO allies warning repeatedly that such a concession would set a dangerous precedent, sending a message that Putin was being rewarded for the unilateral invasion of a neighbor.

On Monday, President Trump called the talks in Geneva “big,” and he told reporters on Air Force One that, “Ukraine better come to the table, fast.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday that “the main issues concern both the territories and everything else related to the demands we have put forward.”

Russia is pushing for full control of Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, the Donbas region, where fighting has raged since 2014, first between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists, and for the last four years at least, between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

Zelenskyy said in an interview with Axios that he’s prepared to discuss a troop withdrawal for the creation of a neutral, internationally monitored buffer zone, but he has consistently rejected Russia’s claim to sovereignty over the Donbas. 

He said the Ukrainian people would never support a withdrawal from the region if it meant handing the territory over to Russia. 

“Emotionally, people will never forgive this. Never,” he told Axios. “They will not forgive … me, they will not forgive [the U.S.].”

The head of the Russian delegation in Geneva, close Putin confidant Vladimir Medinskiy, called this week’s discussions, “difficult, but business-like,” according to Russian state news agency RIA. 

Medinskiy told reporters after the meetings that further negotiations would be held soon, without providing a timeframe. 

Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov said Wednesday, “there is progress,” but he added that “this is complex work that requires alignment among all parties, and sufficient time.”

Zelenskyy also stressed his view that European nations should have a more direct role in the negotiations. 

“We consider Europe’s participation in the process to be critically necessary for the further successful implementation of entirely possible agreements,” he said in a social media post. “Ukraine has no doubt that the partners are able to ensure the constructiveness of the negotiation process, and therefore a worthy result.”

The Ukrainian leader has long called for clear guarantees of protection for his country against any future Russian aggression as part of a peace deal, which would likely involve European commitments backed up by the U.S.

He’s said such guarantees can and should be set in stone before any conclusions on the more contentious territorial issues.

“Our American friends, they are preparing security guarantees. But they said — first this swap of territories, or something like that, and then security guarantees. I think — first, security guarantees. Second, we will not give up our territories because we are ready for compromise. What kind of compromise are we ready for? Not for the compromise that gives Russia the opportunity to recover quickly and come again and occupy us,” he told Axios. “This is an important thing.”

The Ukrainian and Russian delegations met in Abu-Dhabi in January, for a previous round of U.S.-brokered talks. That round led to the first prisoner swap between the countries in five months. 

Zelenskyy said Wednesday in a social media post that another swap could be coming soon. If it does, it may be the only tangible result of the talks this week in Geneva.