Negotiators fromLp Ukraine and Russia concluded the first of two days of US-mediated peace talks in Geneva, with US President Donald Trump pressing Ukraine to act fast to reach a deal to end the four-year conflict.
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 Zelensky 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,” Mr Zelensky 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?” he added.
A protester holds a placard as a new round of talks between Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators aimed at finding a solution to four years of fighting in Ukraine, takes place in Geneva
A protester holds a placard as a new round of talks between Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators takes place in Geneva
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 today for a final day.
Russian officials made no comments on the talks.
But Russian news agencies quoted a source as saying that the talks were “very tense” and lasted six hours in different bilateral and trilateral formats.
Both sides agreed to continue the discussions today, the source told the agencies.
The Geneva meeting followed 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.
Mr Trump is urging Russia and Ukraine to strike an agreement to end Europe’s biggest war since 1945, though Mr Zelensky has complained that his country is facing more pressure to make concessions.
Before the talks began, Mr Umerov played down hopes for a significant step forward in Geneva, saying the Ukrainian delegation was working “without excessive expectations”.
SUMY, UKRAINE – FEBRUARY 17: Pieces of a Russian drone after crashing into a building in Sumy, northeastern Ukraine, on February 17, 2026. (Photo by Francisco Richart/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Pieces of a Russian drone after crashing into a building in Sumy
Negotiating two crises at once
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were representing the Trump administration at the talks.
In a rare attempt to negotiate two major global crises simultaneously, they attended the morning’s indirect negotiations with Iranian officials in Geneva before crossing town to mediate the talks between Ukraine and Russia.
Mr Trump put the ball in Ukraine’s court when asked by reporters what he was expecting from yesterday’s talks with Russia.
“Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you,” Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Russia is demanding that Ukraine cede the remaining 20% of the eastern region of Donetsk that Russia has failed to capture – something Ukraine refuses to do.
Delegations from several European countries were present in Geneva, according to four sources familiar with the matter, but did not attend the trilateral peace talks themselves.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the recent attacks left tens of thousands without heat and water
The Europeans were invited after Mr Zelensky asked US officials to include them, one of the sources said, adding that they would be briefed by the Americans and Ukrainians about the discussions.
Russia has in the past voiced its opposition to European involvement.
Mr Zelensky yesterday called for Ukraine’s allies to increase pressure on Russia to reach a “real and just” peace deal via tougher sanctions and weapons supplies to Ukraine.
The Geneva round comes just days before the fourth anniversary, on 24 February, of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its much smaller neighbour.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions have fled their homes, and many Ukrainian cities, towns and villages have been devastated by the conflict.
“One shouldn’t trust the Russians absolutely, not even a little,” said Oksana Reviakina, 41, an internally displaced person from the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, when asked about the talks while sheltering in a Ukraine metro station during an air-raid alert.
Russia occupies about 20% of Ukraine’s national territory, including Crimea and parts of the eastern Donbas region seized before the 2022 invasion.
Its recent airstrikes on energy infrastructure have left hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without heating and power during a harsh winter.
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