After two rounds of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, Kyiv, Washington and Moscow are meeting in Geneva on Tuesday for two days of negotiations.
The meeting takes place just days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s all-out war.
The delegations are gathering as fierce fighting continues along the roughly 1,250-kilometre frontline and amid relentless Russia’s bombardment of civilian areas and energy infrastructure, which left millions of Ukrainians without electricity, water and heating in freezing February weather.
According to kyiv, there is hardly any hope that Russia would stop or at least scale down the pace and intensity of its aerial attacks.
On Monday, as Ukraine’s delegation departed from the capital Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia was preparing for another “massive strike”.
Zelenskyy said he instructed Ukraine’s air force chief, defence minister, and the head of the state-owned electricity company Ukrenergo to “prepare additional protective measures” throughout the day ahead of a possible attack.
“Even on the eve of the trilateral meetings in Geneva, the Russian army has no orders other than to continue striking Ukraine,” he wrote.
“This speaks volumes about how Russia regards the partners’ diplomatic efforts.”
What is on the agenda in Geneva?
The Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the talks in Geneva will cover a “wider range of topics” than the previous rounds in Abu Dhabi.
According to Peskov, the delegations will specifically discuss the most complicated issue: Ukraine’s territories.
“This time, we intend to discuss a wider range of issues, including the main issues concerning the territories and everything else. These issues are related to our demands. The presence of the chief negotiator (Vladimir) Medinsky is necessary here,” Peskov said.
Putin’s aide Medinsky has a history of maximalist rhetoric, and his comeback marks a potential hardening of Moscow’s negotiating position. It could further signal that Moscow intends to continue its formal participation in the negotiations without any intention of producing tangible results.
Medinsky is a fierce supporter of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In January 2025 he was the editor of a new textbook, “Military History of Russia,” which frames Moscow’s war against Ukraine as a continuation of the Soviet fight against Nazi Germany and describes Russia’s war as “necessary reaction to Western threats”.
And as far back as 2013, he said that Russia’s “perseverance” in the face of all 20th-century catastrophes indicates that the Russian people “have an extra chromosome”.
The US has reportedly signalled to Russian counterparts that it would prefer to limit the involvement of hardliners like Medinsky in the peace process.
Ukraine is sending the same high-level team to Geneva that it has dispatched to previous rounds of talks.
The delegation is led by Rustem Umerov, the National Security and Defence Council secretary, and Zelenskyy’s chief of staff and former head of military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov, with other senior officials in tow.
“The team was formed taking into account the military, political, and security components of the process,” Umerov said last week.
He also announced that Kyiv plans to raise the issue of an energy ceasefire – the idea Moscow repeatedly rejected in the past.
At the Munich Security Conference, Zelenskyy also revealed that the delegations in Geneva will discuss how a monitoring mission would operate in the event of a ceasefire.
“On the military aspect, they have to accept a monitoring mission and how it would work if the war ends — that is, monitoring the ceasefire,” Ukraine’s president said.
He stressed that Ukraine will do everything to ensure that no party can accuse Kyiv of not wanting an end to Russia’s war.