Ukraine and Russia did not find agreement on the central issues of how to end the four-year at US-mediated talks in Geneva, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday.
“We can see that some groundwork has been done, but for now the positions differ, because the negotiations were not easy,” Zelensky said in a message to journalists, including from AFP, after the talks had finished.
He said the fate of occupied territory in Ukraine’s east and the future status of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, captured by Russian forces, were the unresolved “sensitive issues” in the talks. Zelenskyy accused Russia of “trying to drag out negotiations” when they could have reached the final stage.
However, Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov said he there had been progress in talks with United States and Russia on ending the war.
“We are focused on working through the key provisions required to finalise the process. This is complex work that requires alignment among all parties and sufficient time. There is progress but no details can be disclosed at this stage,” he told reporters.
The talks wrapped up after just two hours, much shorter than the six hours of meetings on Tuesday, according to the head of Russia’s delegation.
Neither side elaborated on what they discussed or whether they had agreed on anything, but both signalled the discussions had been tricky.
Russia’s top negotiator said two days of talks were “difficult”, but fresh talks would be held soon. “They were difficult, but business-like. The next meeting will take place in the near future,” Russia’s Vladimir Medinsky told state media reporters after the talks.
Meanwhile, Ukraine reduced electricity imports by three percent to around 311 gigawatt hours last week amid milder weather, analyst DixiGroup said late on Tuesday.
