Missiles fly as ‘tense’ Russia-Ukraine peace talks wrap up day one

Russian and Ukrainian officials have convened for a third round of United States-brokered peace negotiations in Switzerland days before the bloody Ukraine war hits its four-year mark.

After the first day of talks ended on Tuesday, Russian media quoted an unidentified source as saying the negotiations were “tense”, lasted ⁠six hours, and took place in different ‌bilateral and trilateral settings.

Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov said discussions focused on “practical issues and the mechanics of possible solutions”.

Before talks began, Umerov played down hopes for a significant step forward in Geneva, saying the Ukrainian delegation is working “without excessive expectations”. Discussions continue for a final day on Wednesday.

The Russian delegation is headed by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to President Vladimir Putin.

“We are ready to move quickly toward a worthy agreement to end the war,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address, adding tht he’s waiting for a report from the negotiating team in Geneva.

“The question for ⁠the Russians is: just what do they want?”

The US was represented by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who joined the negotiations after helping mediate indirect talks with Iranian officials at a separate venue in the Swiss city earlier in the day.

Both sides trade fire

Before the negotiations, Ukraine accused Russia of undermining peace efforts by launching 29 missiles and 396 drones overnight. At least nine people were wounded, and Zelenskyy said tens of thousands of residents were left without heating and running water in the southern port city of Odesa.

Russia, meanwhile, claimed to have repelled more than 150 Ukrainian drones, most over southern regions and the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula, while officials said an oil depot in southern Russia caught fire.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said Russia planned to bring up “a broader range of issues” during the Geneva talks, including the major issue of territory. About 20 percent of Ukrainian land has been seized by Moscow since 2014.

The commander of the US military – and NATO forces – in Europe, General Alexus Grynkewich, and Secretary of the US Army Dan Driscoll were also due to attend the discussions and meet their Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, according to spokesman Colonel Martin O’Donnell.

‘People are exhausted’

Many Ukrainians, weary from relentless air attacks, “wonder whether Russia is in fact negotiating in good faith”, said Al Jazeera’s Audrey MacAlpine, reporting from the capital Kyiv.

“People are really exhausted,” said Kyiv resident Alina Yemets. “There have been so many of these meetings, so much talk about a ceasefire. Belief [they will produce] a good result is not very strong.”

US President Donald Trump has pushed both Moscow and Kyiv to reach ⁠a deal to end Europe’s biggest war since 1945, though Zelenskyy has complained his country is facing more pressure to make concessions.

When asked by reporters what he expected ahead of the Geneva negotiations, Trump singled out Ukraine.

“Well, we have big talks,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday. “It’s going to be very easy. I mean, look, so far, Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you.”

Key obstacle

Russia is demanding Ukraine cede the remaining 20 percent of the eastern region of Donetsk that Moscow has failed to capture – something Kyiv refuses to do.

“The central sticking point between all this remains the issue of land – of eastern Ukraine,” reported Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid from Geneva.

Ukraine’s army has put up a strong defence, costing Russia heavy losses during its slow, painstaking advance over the past four years.

Kyiv is “trying to paint any Russian capture of the rest of the Donetsk region as something that is not inevitable, something that will take them many lives and perhaps many years to do”, MacAlpine said.

Ukraine views the idea of making territorial compromises before clear security guarantees to be “a bit of a cart before the horse scenario”, she added.

Geneva was chosen to host the latest round of talks after two earlier sessions in Abu Dhabi, which both sides described as constructive but which failed to produce any major breakthrough.

The discussions come a week before the four-year anniversary on February 24 of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its much smaller neighbour, Ukraine.

Estimates suggest 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 war.

Russia’s recent air strikes on energy infrastructure have left hundreds of thousands ⁠of Ukrainians without heat and electricity during the harsh winter months.