“Today we spoke in detail several times with our team at the negotiations in Geneva. It was the second day of meetings – both the trilateral format and also other formats. Ukraine is interested in the result. As of today, we cannot say that the result is sufficient. The military spoke on some issues – seriously and meaningfully. Sensitive political issues, questions about possible compromises and the necessary meeting of leaders have not yet been sufficiently worked out. We are counting on the next meeting, and it would be correct in February,” Zelensky emphasized.
He noted that the presence of Europeans in Geneva, representatives of France, Britain, Germany, Italy and the host country, Switzerland, was important for Ukraine.
“It is we in Ukraine who always promote the position that Europe should be a participant in the process. I want to thank the United States of America for hearing this position. I also set the delegation’s task to discuss the humanitarian track – the necessary exchanges of prisoners of war, the release of civilians. We are looking for information on each person and are always working to return our own – to return Ukrainians home,” the president emphasized.
Context
The next round of trilateral peace talks in Ukraine took place on February 17-18. On the first day of negotiations, the delegations focused on “practical issues and the mechanics of possible solutions,” reported Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Died. Axios journalist Barak Ravid wrote that, according to his sources, the negotiations “stuck” because of the positions presented by the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky. However, US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said there was “significant progress.” After trilateral negotiations, the Ukrainian group met separately with delegations from the United States, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
Negotiations on February 18 lasted about two hours, reported Speaker Umerova. Medinsky, who heads the contact group from Moscow in Geneva, called the negotiations “difficult, but businesslike” and announced the next meeting “in the near future.”
After a telephone report from the Ukrainian delegation, Zelensky said that the parties managed to achieve progress on the military issue, as opposed to the political one.
