Ukraine, US resume Geneva talks as new round with Russia looms

Ukrainian delegates met US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Geneva as part of ongoing efforts to broker peace with Moscow, Ukraine’s top negotiator, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Rustem Umerov, announced.

A key item on the agenda is preparation for the next round of trilateral negotiations with Russia, which Washington hopes to facilitate in the coming weeks, Caliber.Az reports, citing Ukrainian media.

The US and Ukraine aim “to synchronize positions ahead of this stage,” Umerov said. He is participating in the talks alongside Davyd Arakhamia, the parliamentary leader of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party.

Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East and a leading negotiator with Russia, and Kushner, the president’s advisor and son-in-law, joined the discussions with Ukraine shortly after separate negotiations with Iran, also hosted in Geneva, amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington.

The Ukrainian delegation includes Economy Minister Oleksii Sobolev and his deputy, Darina Marchak. According to Umerov, the talks will address economic recovery, the long-discussed $800 billion “prosperity package” for Ukraine, and the prospect of future prisoner exchanges with Russia.

The meeting follows the latest round of negotiations among Ukraine, Russia, and the US held in Geneva on February 17–18, which concluded without a breakthrough on territorial disputes or a ceasefire agreement.

It also comes shortly after a February 25 phone call between Trump and Zelenskyy. The US president said he wants an end to the Russia–Ukraine war as soon as possible.

By Vafa Guliyeva