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President says military discussed issues seriously but ‘sensitive political matters’ not addressed properly
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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says he is dissatisfied with the latest talks held with Russian negotiators, insisting that “sensitive political matters” had not been addressed properly.
“As of today, we cannot say that the result is sufficient,” Mr Zelensky said.
“The military discussed certain issues seriously and substantively. Sensitive political matters, possible compromises and the necessary meeting of leaders have not yet been sufficiently addressed.” He called for further discussions this month.
The talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States ended abruptly after two hours on Wednesday, following a first session yesterday that he described as difficult.
Rustem Umerov, the head of Kyiv’s delegation in Geneva, described the talks as “substantive” and said there had been progress, adding that Ukraine’s goal remained a just and sustainable peace.
Humanitarian issues, including the exchange of prisoners of war and the release of civilians, were in focus on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian told Axios it was not fair that US president Donald Trump kept publicly calling on Ukraine, not Russia, to yield.
Foreign intelligence services are able to see messages sent by Russian soldiers using the Telegram messaging app, Russia’s minister for digital development Maksud Shadayev said on Wednesday.
Telegram, one of the most popular messenger services in Russia, is widely used by Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, but is under pressure from the authorities who have imposed restrictions on it over what they say is its failure to delete extremist content.
“There are numerous indications that foreign intelligence agencies have access to the messenger’s correspondence and are using this data against the Russian military,” Shadayev was cited as saying.
Despite those issues, Russian authorities will not block access to Telegram for troops in Ukraine for now, Shadayev said, adding that they would need “some time” to switch to other means of communication. He did not provide details.
The second day of talks between Russia and Ukraine concluded within two hours this morning, following a six hour discussion on Tuesday.
The head of the Ukrainian delegation said that there was progress, and Zelensky told reporters that Kyiv had agreed to continue talks.
In Geneva, lead Ukrainian diplomat Rustem Umerov emerged confident that negotiations were “substantive” and that “a number of issues were clarified”.
Zelensky told reporters: “We can see that progress has been made but, for now, positions differ because the negotiations were difficult.”
Vladimir Medinsky, Russia’s top negotiator, said the talks had been difficult but business-like, and that a new round of talks would be held soon.
“The negotiations lasted two days: a very long time yesterday in various formats, and then about two hours today,” Medinsky, a senior Kremlin aide, told reporters in Geneva.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says the Geneva talks with Russian representatives on a military track were substantive but he said “sensitive political matters” had not been addressed properly.
He said he could not say the result was sufficient, and political issues needed further work.
He said he wanted the next round of talks this month.
As Ukraine claimed a string of victories in the southeast, Emil Kastehelmi, military analyst with Finland-based open-source intelligence collective Black Bird Group, told The Independent that the latest figures may not represent a strategic shift, but could offer some political relief in talks:
The Trump administration has seen Russia’s war as a business opportunity, writes World Affairs Editor Sam Kiley, in Ukraine:
Ukraine was finally able to reduce reliance on power imports last week as the bitter winter cold relented, with Russian attacks on energy infrastructure still straining the war-weary nation.
“This is the first decline in weekly import volumes in the last five weeks,” analyst DixiGroup said late on Tuesday, announcing an import reduction of three per cent.
“Electricity exports have remained at zero for three months in a row,” it said.
Ukrainians suffered record cold conditions in early February, with temperatures in some parts of the country hitting minus 30 degrees Celsius (-22°F) – just as Russian attacks knocked out large parts of the energy network.
Ukraine and Russia emerged from talks in Geneva without a deal as the thorny issue of territory remained a sticking point in negotiations.
Zelensky’s delegation was led by Rustem Umerov, the former minister of defence, who tempered expectations ahead of time.
He said on Wednesday that talks had been “intensive and substantive” and that some issues had been clarified. But talks ended abruptly today after just two hours.
A Ukrainian diplomatic source told the BBC that the issue of land remained a sticking point.
Russia’s delegation, led by Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky, said talks had been difficult but business-like. He also held closed-door talks with the Ukrainian side without the Americans, according to Russian media.
Both sides relayed that they expected more talks would follow.
Russia’s vocal foreign ministry spokesperson today demanded the nations accusing Russia of poisoning Alexei Navalany provide proof to support their claims.
“All the accusations against Russia were of the ‘highly likely’ variety. There were no specific details,” said Maria Zakharova.
“It was purely a proclamation to become the opening act of the Munich (security) conference and to overshadow the Epstein files.”
Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said on Saturday that analyses of samples from Navalny’s body had confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America and not found naturally in Russia.
They said Moscow had the “means, motive and opportunity” to administer the poison to him.
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