President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he saw progress on the military dimension of the Ukraine-Russia negotiations after a two-day trilateral meeting in Geneva on 17-18 February, but noted that the political track yielded no comparable breakthrough.
Speaking to journalists, according to Ukrainska Pravda, after being briefed by Ukraine's delegation, Zelenskyy said: "All three sides in the military dimension were constructive," adding that this was his impression "from the briefing I just had."
The political component, however, proved far more difficult. "As for the political component — these are all the sensitive issues you know about — we see that there are developments, but positions are still different, because the negotiations were not easy," Zelenskyy said.
He summed up the outcome bluntly: "In the military dimension, I heard progress. In the political one — well, there was a dialogue, they agreed to keep going, agreed to continue. But I did not hear the kind of progress there was on the military side."
Ukraine's chief negotiator, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov, described the work in Geneva as "intensive and substantive," according to his Telegram post. The delegation operated in two parallel tracks — political and military — discussing "security parameters and mechanisms for implementing possible decisions," Umerov said.
"Some issues were clarified, while others require additional coordination," he added, acknowledging that "there is progress" but calling it "difficult work that requires the agreement of all sides and time."
The next step, according to Umerov, is to "reach the necessary level of agreement to present the developed decisions for consideration by the presidents." He stressed that Ukraine's goal is "to prepare a real, not a formal, basis for this."
"Ukraine is working constructively. The ultimate goal remains unchanged — a just and lasting peace," Umerov concluded.
The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said the 18 February session lasted about two hours and described the talks as "difficult but businesslike," according to his statement.
