(Feb 13): Russia and Ukraine said a new round of US-led peace talks will take place in Geneva next week.
Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky will lead Moscow’s delegation at the negotiations planned for Feb 17 and 18, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
Ukraine’s negotiating team is also preparing for talks with Russia and the US in Geneva next week, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s aide Dmytro Lytvyn told reporters in a note on WhatsApp. Kyiv’s delegation will include officials focusing on military, political and security issues, the country’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov, who will also take part in the upcoming talks, said on Friday in a post on X.
The meeting follows two rounds of talks since New Year in the United Arab Emirates involving military officials from Ukraine and Russia as well as US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. The two sides discussed military parameters for any potential ceasefire in the war that’s set to enter its fifth year this month, though they remain far apart on the key issue of territory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine hand over territory in its eastern Donetsk region that Moscow has failed to conquer in fighting dating back to 2014. The US is proposing to establish a free economic zone in the area along with overall security guarantees for Ukraine against any future Russian attack.
“None of the sides is keen on the idea of the free economic zone — neither the Russians, nor us,” Zelenskiy said in a phone interview in Kyiv on Tuesday, though he declined to rule out the possibility. “We have different views on it. And agreements were as follows — let’s come back with the vision of what it may look like for the next meeting.”
See also: Trump privately weighed quitting trade pact he signed with Canada, Mexico — Bloomberg
Medinsky headed Russia’s delegation at talks with Ukraine in Istanbul between May and July last year. He was also part of the Russian team that held peace talks with Ukrainian officials in Istanbul weeks after the start of the February 2022 invasion.
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