Geneva Peace Talks Enter Second Day, Zelenskiy Complains About US Pressure
US-mediated peace talks between Ukraine and Russia entered their second day in Geneva on Wednesday. As the negotiations progressed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed his disapproval of the US exerting excessive pressure on Kyiv to end the nearly four-year war.
The talks in Switzerland came amid statements by US President Donald Trump in recent days that Ukraine—and Zelenskiy—needed to move quickly for the talks to succeed. Zelenskiy considered this approach unbalanced, as the US public has often heard calls for compromise from Ukraine, not Russia.
In an interview with Axios published Tuesday, Zelenskiy said it was “unfair” for Trump to continue publicly demanding concessions from Ukraine. He also emphasized that any plan requiring Ukraine to cede territory not yet occupied by Russia in the Donbas region would be rejected if brought to a referendum.
Despite criticizing the public pressure, Zelenskiy expressed his appreciation for the US peace efforts. He said communications with key US negotiators, including Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, did not display the pressures that had been expressed in public statements.
From the Ukrainian side, delegation head Rustem Umerov said Tuesday's meeting focused on "practical issues and the mechanisms for possible decisions," without elaborating. Meanwhile, Russian officials did not comment officially, although sources quoted by Russian media said the talks were very tense and lasted about six hours, both bilaterally and trilaterally.
The Geneva meeting follows two previous rounds of talks in Abu Dhabi that ended without major breakthroughs as the two sides remained far apart on key issues, particularly territorial control in eastern Ukraine. Umerov also lowered expectations from the outset, asserting that the Ukrainian delegation was working "without excessive expectations" for significant progress in a short time.
From the US side, Witkoff stated that Trump's efforts to bring the two sides together were beginning to bear fruit, and both delegations agreed to report progress to their respective leaders and continue working toward an agreement. However, the lack of details and the reportedly high tensions have led markets and the global public to believe that the path to peace remains long and prone to back-and-forth.
Source: Newsmaker.id
