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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said it is unfair of President Donald Trump to publicly call on Ukraine to make concessions to Russia in peace talks as a second day of negotiations ended without a breakthrough.
Trump had pushed Zelensky to "get moving" on a deal ahead of the third round of U.S.-brokered negotiations in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday.
But Zelensky said it was "not fair" for Ukraine to face pressure to compromise on the terms of a future deal. In an interview with the Axios news site on Tuesday, he said peace wasn't within reach if "victory is handed to Russia."
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Following conclusion of talks on Wednesday, the Ukrainian leader described them as "difficult" and accused Russia of "trying to drag out negotiations that could already have reached the final stage". Wednesday's negotiations went on for only two hours.
These were the third round of tripartite talks this year, overseen by U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law.
Earlier on Wednesday, Witkoff said "meaningful progress" had been made on the first day. Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin aide heading up Russia's presence in Geneva, said Tuesday's discussions had been tough but "businesslike."
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But even before |Wednesday's abrupt end to talks, clinching a deal in Switzerland had seemed unlikely, with neither Russia nor Ukraine willing to concede their positions on the thorny issue of territory. Russia continues to demand control for the regions it occupies in eastern and southern Ukraine, while Ukraine has said it will not cede its land.
Trump has expressed increasing frustration with the slow pace of progress toward an agreement. Kyiv and its European backers are worried about the president's reluctance to exert pressure on Moscow.
Meanwhile, Zelensky and Trump's relationship has been rocky, marred by highly publicized disagreements despite Ukrainian attempts to keep the U.S. on side.
Zelensky noted on Tuesday that Witkoff and Kushner had not exerted the same pressure that Trump wielded in his public declarations. European leaders have raised the same concerns.
European officials were present at the trilateral meeting in Geneva this week and held talks with the Ukrainians on the sidelines.
The Ukrainian leader had told reporters and world leaders on Saturday that American officials "often return to the topic of concessions" but: "Too often those concessions are discussed in the context only of Ukraine, not Russia."
Sticking points
The belief that Russia is not taking peace negotiations seriously is also reinforced by its continued aerial attacks across Ukrainian cities.
The night before Geneva talks kicked off, Russia launched large-scale missile and drone attacks across Ukraine, targeting the country's critical energy infrastructure. Ukrainian officials said nine people were injured.
Ukraine's military also reported on Wednesday that Moscow had launched 126 drones and a ballistic missile at Ukraine overnight.
Russia has not stepped down from its demands to keep control of vast swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine, while Kyiv says it would be illegal to cede territory and cannot stomach rewarding Russia for launching its invasion nearly four years ago. Territorial concessions would also be deeply unpopular among Ukrainians.
Crucially, Russia has said it wants control of all of the Donbas, the part of eastern Ukraine made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. This includes a chunk of Donetsk still under Ukrainian control that is key for Kyiv's defenses in the east.
Western analysts say it would take the Kremlin years to take the rest of Donetsk by force.
Zelensky has said the U.S. has proposed Ukraine withdraws from the chunks of the Donbas it still controls, which would become a "free economic zone." Zelensky has said the idea was greeted coolly by Russian and Ukrainian officials.
The Ukrainian leader told Axios Ukraine's population would "never forgive" his government—or the U.S.—for accepting a deal that sacrifices the Donbas.
Also still up in the air is whether Europe's largest nuclear power plant will end up in Russian or Ukrainian hands. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine is currently run by Russia after it captured the plant in March 2022 and international experts have repeatedly warned the fighting close to the site risks a nuclear disaster.
Ukraine says it needs comprehensive security guarantees, most of all from the U.S., before it can ink a peace deal.
Belarus leader sanctioned
Kyiv separately on Wednesday slapped sanctions on Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a key Putin ally, over his support for Russia's war effort.
Zelensky said Russia had installed technology in Belarus that helped Moscow strike northern Ukraine and companies in the country were supplying parts for Russian weapons. Russia also used Belarus as a springboard for its initial invasion in February 2022.
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