The negotiating delegations from kyiv and Moscow meet in Geneva, Switzerland, between Tuesday, February 17 and Wednesday, February 18, in a new attempt to get closer to an end to the Russian invasion launched in 2022. Both sides will discuss the "main issues" for peace, the Kremlin explained this Monday, including the Ukrainian territories that Russia claims after capturing or annexing them, although the attacked country refuses to give in to those demands. The Government of Volodymyr Zelensky anticipated that it will raise the possibility of an energy truce, in the middle of an intense winter.

First modification: 02/16/2026 - 19:38

"This time, the idea is to discuss a broader range of issues, including, in fact, the main ones. These important issues concern both the territories and everything related to the demands that we have presented," declared Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov this Monday, February 16, on the eve of the meeting between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine to discuss a ceasefire plan.

The negotiations will take place on Tuesday, February 17 and Wednesday, February 18, in Geneva, Switzerland, without a prior published agenda or specific location revealed, although with the mediation of the United States, following the model of the recent talks in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Both governments once again find themselves in a context of opposing positions on essential issues for a hypothetical peace agreement and pressured by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to sign the peace no later than June.

The Russian delegation will be led by the experienced Vladimir Medinsky, assistant to President Vladimir Putin. The official led Moscow's negotiating team in the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in March 2022. He is considered one of the faithful defenders of Putin's war objectives and the author of several books that expose alleged Western plots against Russia.

He will be accompanied by the head of military intelligence, Igor Kostyukov and the deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Galuzin, along with other officials, the Kremlin spokesman specified. In parallel, Putin's special envoy Kirill Dmitriev will participate in a separate working group with the United States on economic cooperation.

The White House has not disclosed which officials it will send to Geneva. In the recent tripartite talks in Abu Dhabi, the Donald Trump Administration was represented by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, also the Republican leader's son-in-law.

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On the other side of the border, General Kyrylo Budanov, chief of staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, published a photograph on social networks next to a train "on the way to Geneva", accompanied by two members of the negotiating team, headed by Rustem Umerov, head of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

"We will discuss the lessons of our history and seek the correct conclusions. It is necessary to safeguard Ukraine's interests," Budanov noted. Entering or leaving Ukraine involves a long journey by land, as the country's airspace is closed due to the war.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry confirmed its participation as host country and guarantor of the safe arrival of the delegations.

Stranded dialogues

Despite pressure from the White House to sign a ceasefire in Ukraine, differences between Moscow and kyiv remain entrenched on sensitive issues, including control of the territory, who will control the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant – the largest in Europe – and the role of Western troops in Ukraine in an eventual post-war period.

Read alsoWhy is Trump's rush to achieve a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine?

Moscow insists on territorial concessions that include Ukraine's withdrawal from the Donbass regions that it still controls and formalizing its power over eastern and southern territories occupied since the 2022 invasion, in addition to Crimea. kyiv and its European partners consider such conditions to constitute a de facto surrender.

The Zelensky Government also focuses on security guarantees to dissuade Russia from relaunching its offensive in the future, a point in which the support of European allies is essential.

The Russian and Ukrainian delegations must inform their leaders before adopting any agreement in Geneva.

The war, intact before talking about peace

As the Ukrainian delegation left for Geneva for peace talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday ordered his Armed Forces and the national electricity company, Ukrenergo, to urgently prepare a plan to protect essential infrastructure, after his intelligence services informed him of a "massive attack" planned by Russia.

“I have ordered the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, Anatoly Krivonozhko, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Mikhail Fedorov, and the President of Ukrenergo, Vitali Zaichenko, to prepare additional protective measures during the day,” Zelensky wrote on his social networks, after meeting with regional authorities and other leaders to assess the situation after the Russian bombings last night.

The Ukrainian Air Force recorded 62 long-range attack drones and six missiles of various types launched by Russia against Ukraine during the early hours of Monday. The Ukrainian president condemned the Russian offensive "even on the eve of the trilateral meetings in Geneva."

Meanwhile, the Russian governor of the western Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, reported on Monday the downing of 229 Ukrainian drones in the last 24 hours. No other Russian region has suffered so many simultaneous drone attacks in a single day, Bogomaz said.

Millions of Ukrainians have suffered cuts of electricity, running water and heating in recent weeks as a result of the Kremlin's attacks on their vital infrastructure, in the midst of the most intense winter the country has experienced in recent decades.

Zelensky detailed this weekend at the Munich Security Conference that Ukrainians, Russians and Americans will talk in Geneva about the possibility of declaring an energy truce.

Putin's government already accepted, at the request of Donald Trump, a unilateral energy truce on kyiv at the end of January. Although Ukraine adhered to the proposal, the relative calm only lasted four days.

With Reuters and AP

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