Kiev hopes that progress in the talks in Geneva will pave the way for direct talks between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders.
listen to this article4 minutes
information
Russia launched a barrage of missile and drone strikes across Ukraine overnight, injuring at least eight people, ahead of the latest high-level talks between Kiev and Washington, now in their fifth year, aimed at ending the war.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the latest attack on the capital early Wednesday damaged a nine-story residential building in the Darnitsky district and caused fires in homes and garages elsewhere in the city.
Recommended stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
The attack on the capital prompted the activation of air defense systems to counter the attack, said the head of the city’s military administration, Timur Tkachenko, who advised residents to remain in shelters until the attack was over. No casualties were reported in the capital.
Ukraine has come under regular nighttime barrage in recent months as Russia has targeted cities with missiles and drones under harsh winter conditions, as well as civilian energy infrastructure, amid continued pressure from the United States to negotiate an end to Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
Attacks also occurred in the Kharkov, Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, with authorities saying seven people were injured in Kharkov and one person in Dnipropetrovsk’s Kryvy Rif, AFP news agency reported.
US and Ukrainian delegations to meet
The airstrike was carried out ahead of a scheduled meeting between Ukraine’s chief negotiator Rustem Umerov and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Geneva, Switzerland. The talks were held ahead of a full meeting scheduled for early March involving Moscow, Kiev and Washington.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that he spoke with US President Donald Trump ahead of the meeting, and that Witkov and Kushner also took part in a 30-minute phone call in which they discussed issues that representatives of both countries would take up in Geneva and “preparations for the next meeting of the full negotiating team in a tripartite format in early March.”
Zelenskiy, who has repeatedly called for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to resolve the most difficult issues, said he hoped the meeting in Geneva would be an “opportunity to move the talks to the summit level.”
“President Trump supports this series of measures,” he said. “This is the only way to resolve all complex and sensitive issues and finally end the war.”
Putin has repeatedly rejected such talks in the past, casting doubt on Zelenskiy’s legitimacy as Ukraine’s leader.
Meanwhile, Russian state news agency TASS reported that Kremlin economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev will also be in Geneva on Thursday, where he will “proceed with negotiations with the American side on economic issues.”
negotiations are stalled
Talks so far have been fruitless, even though Trump has expressed a desire to end the conflict and claims he can do so within 24 hours of returning to office.
Negotiations under a U.S. plan announced late last year have hit a roadblock over some of the thorniest territorial issues, including control of eastern Donbas, an industrial region in eastern Ukraine that has been the center of the most intense fighting.
Russia is pushing for complete control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, threatening to seize it by force if Kiev does not come to the negotiating table.
But Ukraine rejected the request, suggesting it would not sign the deal unless it had security to prevent Russian invasion again. Ukraine’s constitution also prohibits the ceding of territory.
Russia’s war in Ukraine is thought to have killed hundreds of thousands of people on both sides.
