{"id":11934,"date":"2026-02-18T17:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T17:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/11934\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T17:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T17:34:08","slug":"no-breakthrough-on-bridging-gaps-in-russia-ukraine-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/11934\/","title":{"rendered":"No breakthrough on bridging gaps in Russia-Ukraine talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

GENEVA (AP) \u2014 The latest U.S.-brokered talks between envoys from Moscow and Kyiv over Russia\u2019s all-out invasion<\/a> of Ukraine ended Wednesday with no sign of a breakthrough and with both sides saying the talks were \u201cdifficult,\u201d as the war\u2019s fourth anniversary approaches next week.<\/p>\n

The negotiations in Switzerland were the third round of direct talks organized by the U.S., after meetings earlier this year in Abu Dhabi<\/a> that officials described as constructive but which also made no major headway. Expectations for significant progress in Geneva were low.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe negotiations were not easy,\u201d Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the talks broke up and he spoke briefly by phone from Kyiv with his negotiating team. <\/p>\n

He earlier accused Russia of \u201ctrying to drag out negotiations\u201d while it presses on with its invasion \u2014 an accusation he and European leaders have repeatedly made in the past.<\/p>\n

Despite that, some progress was made on military issues although political differences remain deep, including over the future of land in eastern Ukraine that is occupied by the Russian army and that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to keep, Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n

The head of the Russian delegation, Putin adviser Vladimir Medinsky, told reporters that the two days of talks in Geneva \u201cwere difficult but businesslike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that it\u2019s \u201ctoo early\u201d to speak about the outcome of the talks. Putin has been receiving reports about progress in Geneva, he said.<\/p>\n

Both sides said a new round of talks is set to take place.<\/p>\n

US will help monitor any ceasefire<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy described the military discussions as \u201cconstructive,\u201d adding that the armed forces of both countries considered how any future ceasefire might be monitored.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonitoring will definitely be carried out with participation of the American side,\u201d he said in a voice message shared in a media group chat on WhatsApp.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on social media that Washington\u2019s push for peace in Ukraine over the past year has \u201cbrought about meaningful progress,\u201d without elaborating.<\/p>\n

The two armies remain locked in battle on the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line<\/a>, while Russia bombards civilian areas<\/a> of Ukraine daily. <\/p>\n

Hours after the first day of talks ended on Tuesday, Russian drones killed a woman and injured a 6-year-old girl and 18-month-old toddler in the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia, officials said.<\/p>\n

Overnight, Russia launched one ballistic missile and 126 long-range drones at Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian air force.<\/p>\n

Europe is involved<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said that the Ukrainian and American envoys in Geneva met with representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. <\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s participation in the process is \u201cindispensable,\u201d Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n

European leaders, mindful of Putin\u2019s wider ambitions<\/a>, say their own security is at stake in Ukraine and have insisted on being consulted in peace efforts.<\/p>\n

Russia and Ukraine appear to still be far apart on their demands for a settlement.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy has offered a ceasefire and a face-to-face meeting with Putin. But Moscow wants a comprehensive agreement before committing to a truce.<\/p>\n

Putin\u2019s key goals remain what he declared when Russia invaded its neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022: Ukraine must renounce joining NATO, sharply reduce the size of its army and protect Russian language and culture to keep the country in Moscow\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Putin wants Kyiv to withdraw its forces from the four eastern regions Moscow has occupied but doesn\u2019t fully control.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy says Ukraine won\u2019t surrender land to Russia.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GENEVA (AP) \u2014 The latest U.S.-brokered talks between envoys from Moscow and Kyiv over Russia\u2019s all-out invasion of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[5352,4644,4011,18,2783,65,4071,8897,69,136,4126,1824,4417,135,4418,8898,4073,4414,4133,1046],"class_list":["post-11934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-geneva","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-ap-top-news","tag-dmitry-peskov","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-news","tag-geneva","tag-kyiv","tag-military-occupations","tag-politics","tag-russia","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-steve-witkoff","tag-ukraine","tag-ukraine-government","tag-united-arab-emirates-government","tag-vladimir-medinsky","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}