Ahead of the negotiations in Switzerland, Russia carried out airstrikes overnight across swathes of Ukraine, severely damaging the power network in the southern port city of Odesa. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attacks left tens of thousands without heat and water.
“We are ready to move quickly toward a worthy agreement to end the war,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address, saying he was waiting for a report from the negotiating team in Geneva. “The question for the Russians is: Just what do they want?”
Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov, the head of the National Security and Defence Council, said in a statement that the day’s talks had focused on “practical issues and the mechanics of possible decisions,” without providing details. He said negotiations would resume on Wednesday for a final day.
The Geneva meeting follows two rounds of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi that concluded without a major breakthrough as the two sides remained far apart on key issues such as the control of territory in eastern Ukraine.
Trump is urging Moscow and Kyiv to strike an agreement to end Europe’s biggest war since 1945, though Zelenskyy has complained that his country is facing more pressure to make concessions.
Before the talks began, Umerov played down hopes for a significant step forward in Geneva, saying the Ukrainian delegation was working “without excessive expectations”.