The third round of trilateral peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, brokered by the US, concluded in Geneva on Wednesday after nearly two hours.
The negotiations, mediated by US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, come a week before the fourth anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war amid continuing attacks.
The Russian delegation is headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, replacing senior military officials who led previous rounds in Abu Dhabi. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said ahead of the meeting that the talks would address a "wider range of issues," including the "main issues concerning the territories," which he described as central to Moscow's demands.
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov led Ukraine's delegation. "We have a framework for work agreed upon by the President of Ukraine (Volodymyr Zelenskyy) and a clear mandate. Security and humanitarian issues are on the agenda," he said earlier.
Confirming the resumption of the talks on Wednesday morning, Umerov said on the US social media company Facebook that discussions were taking place in "working groups by areas within the political and military tracks."
"We are working on clarifying the parameters and mechanisms of the decisions discussed yesterday. We are focused on substantive work. We will provide additional information on the results," he added.
Late Tuesday, Umerov said he had completed a separate meeting with representatives of the US and European partners, including France, the UK, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, to synchronize approaches for further steps.
Tuesday's talks lasted more than four hours.
Meanwhile, Russian media, citing sources within the Russian delegation, described the negotiations as "very tense" and reported that separate Russian-US contacts also took place alongside the trilateral format.
For the US side, Witkoff said talks between Ukraine and Russia had "brought about meaningful progress" toward ending the war.
"President Trump's success in bringing both sides of this war together has brought about meaningful progress, and we are proud to work under his leadership to stop the killing in this terrible conflict," he wrote on the US social media company X.
President Zelenskyy said late Tuesday that Russia launched 29 missiles and nearly 400 drones ahead of the talks, adding that 25 missiles were intercepted.
"Russia greets with a strike even the very day new formats begin in Geneva," he said in a Telegram post. "The team absolutely must raise the issue of these strikes -- first of all with the American side, which proposed that both Ukraine and Russia refrain from attacks. Ukraine is ready. We do not need war. And we always act symmetrically -- defending our state and our independence."
"Likewise, we are ready to move quickly toward a just agreement to end the war," he added.
The talks are being held behind closed doors, and no immediate statement is expected.
