Zelensky announces Ukraine-US talks in Geneva Thursday

KYIV: Lead Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov will meet with US envoy Steve Witkoff in Geneva on Thursday, Kyiv has announced, ahead of fresh trilateral talks with Russia expected in early March.

The meetings are the latest round of negotiations spearheaded by US President Donald Trump that so far have failed to make meaningful progress on ending the Kremlin’s four-year war with Ukraine.

“Tomorrow he will meet with American negotiators Witkoff and (Jared) Kushner,” Ukrainian President Zelensky told a group of reporters, including from AFP.

He added that the meeting was part of “preparations for a trilateral meeting with Russia, which we believe will take place in early March”.

Umerov’s adviser told reporters separately that the meeting on Thursday will be in Geneva, which hosted talks with Russian, Ukrainian, and US officials earlier this month.

READ MORE: Vladimir Putin failed to achieve war goals, Zelensky says

Other issues on the agenda for Thursday are prisoner-of-war exchanges and a “prosperity package” for the reconstruction of Ukraine, Zelensky said.

Witkoff confirmed the talks earlier this week saying the aim was to “explore different iterations about how we might get to a peace deal.”

United States has been pushing for an end to the war that has entered its fifth year and which has killed tens of thousands and destroyed much of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over who gets what land in a post-war settlement.

Russia is pushing for full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, and has threatened to take it by force if Kyiv does not cave at the negotiating table.

But Ukraine has rejected the demand and signalled it would not sign a deal without security guarantees that deter Russia from invading again.