Russia and Ukraine envoys set for new US-led talks in Geneva

Bloomberg News on Feb 13, 2026

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Russia and Ukraine said a new round of U.S.-led peace talks will take place in Geneva next week.

Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky will lead Moscow’s delegation at the negotiations planned for Feb. 17 and 18, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

Ukraine’s negotiating team is also preparing for talks with Russia and the U.S. in Geneva next week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s aide Dmytro Lytvyn told reporters in a note on WhatsApp. Kyiv’s delegation will include officials focusing on military, political and security issues, the country’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov, who will also take part in the upcoming talks, said Friday in a post on X.

The meeting follows two rounds of talks since New Year in the United Arab Emirates involving military officials from Ukraine and Russia as well as U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. The two sides discussed military parameters for any potential ceasefire in the war that’s set to enter its fifth year this month, though they remain far apart on the key issue of territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine hand over territory in its eastern Donetsk region that Moscow has failed to conquer in fighting dating back to 2014. The U.S. is proposing to establish a free economic zone in the area along with overall security guarantees for Ukraine against any future Russian attack.

“None of the sides is keen on the idea of the free economic zone — neither the Russians, nor us,” Zelenskyy said in a phone interview in Kyiv on Tuesday, though he declined to rule out the possibility. “We have different views on it. And agreements were as follows — let’s come back with the vision of what it may look like for the next meeting.”

Medinsky headed Russia’s delegation at talks with Ukraine in Istanbul between May and July last year. He was also part of the Russian team that held peace talks with Ukrainian officials in Istanbul weeks after the start of the February 2022 invasion.