The president of the United States, Donald Trump, urged Ukraine this Monday to settle “quickly” at the negotiating table with Russia, on the eve of a new round of talks between Moscow and kyiv in Geneva, promoted by Washington.
“Ukraine better come to the table quickly,” the president said to the press aboard the presidential plane, while traveling to Washington.In the same exchange with journalists, he stressed that these are “important conversations” and assured: “It will be very easy.””That’s all I’m telling you. We’re in a position to do it. We want them to come,” he added.
The meeting scheduled in Geneva will take place after two previous rounds of US-brokered contacts in Abu Dhabi, which produced no signs of decisive progress.Both sides publicly described these exchanges as productive, but they maintain deep differences on the territorial issue, the central axis of the conflict that began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Trump is pushing for a negotiated solution to the war and will send his main emissary, Steve Witkoff, along with his son-in-law and former advisor Jared Kushner, as part of the US delegation.On the Russian side, the delegation will be led by former Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky.Ukraine will be represented by Rustem Umerov, head of the National Security Council, accompanied by other officials.
Moscow maintains its demands for extensive territorial and political concessions from Ukraine, approaches that kyiv rejects and considers equivalent to capitulation.Positions remain distant regarding the status of the occupied territories and future security guarantees.
In parallel to the diplomatic pressure, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky warned on Monday that Russia is preparing a “massive attack” against the country’s energy infrastructure.According to him, he instructed the authorities to reinforce the security of strategic installations in the face of the risk of new bombings.
Zelensky also referred to the negotiations planned in Geneva and defended that Ukraine should not “repeat mistakes and cede part of the territory” to Russia.In that context, he maintained that the ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot be stopped with “kisses and flowers.”
The Ukrainian government insists that any agreement on territorial issues must be discussed at the leadership level and not be limited to technical negotiations.kyiv maintains that sovereignty over the disputed territories is not subject to renunciation.
The proposal proposed by Washington contemplates the creation of a free zone in the disputed territory, where trade can be freely carried out as a compromise formula.However, Ukraine emphasizes that even in this scheme it would retain sovereignty over those areas.
Regarding options on the ground, Ukraine is betting on freezing the current front lines as an initial step towards a political settlement.Russia, on the other hand, aspires to consolidate control over the entire Donbas, including areas that it does not currently occupy within the framework of the offensive that began in 2022.
The talks in Geneva will take place in this context of opposing positions and under the pressure of a military situation that is still active.The White House presents the round as an opportunity to move towards an understanding, while kyiv and Moscow maintain demands that until now prevent a consensus on the future of the disputed territories.
(With information from EP and AFP)
