Russia-Ukraine talks resume in Geneva as US claims ‘meaningful’ progress
Al Jazeera
The trio will ‘continue working towards a deal’ in the third round of negotiations, US special envoy Steve Witkoff says.
Day two of the third round of trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States is under way in Geneva, Switzerland, as the four-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour looms next week, with vague references to “progress” but nothing tangible yet shared.
Little has been made public about the talks’ contents since negotiations kicked off on Tuesday behind closed doors and continued on Wednesday morning.
Two previous rounds of discussions in Abu Dhabi failed to produce a path towards an elusive peace agreement, only producing prisoner of war and body exchanges between the two sides. The thorniest of issues, territory and the yielding of it, remains the key sticking point. The Kremlin is demanding all of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, not all of which it occupies. Kyiv refuses to countenance that, and Ukraine’s constitution forbids it.
But US special envoy Steve Witkoff signalled a positive tone, writing on X late on Tuesday that both Russia and Ukraine agreed to update their respective leaders and “continue working towards a deal”.
“President Trump’s success in bringing both sides of this war together has brought about meaningful progress, and we are proud to work under his leadership to stop the killing in this terrible conflict,” he said, without sharing further details.
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