Ukraine team heads for Geneva talks as Moscow, Kyiv build military pressure 

Ukrainian officials have left for Geneva, Switzerland, where another round of negotiations aimed at ending the war with Russia is set to take place.

“On the way to Geneva. The next round of negotiations is ahead. Along the way, we will discuss the lessons of our history with our colleagues, seek the right conclusions,” Ukraine’s Chief of Staff Kyrylo Budanov posted on his Telegram channel on Monday, along with a picture of him standing in front of a train with two other members of the delegation he is heading.

The Geneva talks follow two rounds of the United States-brokered negotiations held in the United Arab Emirates in January and early February.

The last meeting marked the first direct public talks between Moscow and Kyiv on a plan proposed by the Trump administration to end the conflict, which started with Russia invading its neighbouring country in February 2022.

Russia and Ukraine described both rounds of talks as constructive, but failed to achieve any breakthrough.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday said he hoped the trilateral talks in Geneva “will be serious, substantive” and “helpful for all of us”.

“But honestly, sometimes it feels like the sides are talking about completely different things,” Zelenskyy said. “The Americans often return to the topic of concessions, and too often those concessions are discussed only in the context of Ukraine, not Russia.”

Among the most contentious issues is the long-term fate of the eastern Ukrainian region, large parts of which Russia has occupied. Moscow is demanding that Kyiv pull its troops from the Donbas region, including heavily fortified cities that sit atop vast natural resources, as a condition for any deal. It also wants international recognition for the land it has unilaterally annexed in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv said the conflict should be frozen along the current front lines and has rejected a one-sided pullback of forces. Ukrainian officials are also demanding solid security guarantees against future Russian attacks.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, said people in the Russian capital do not seem to be too enthusiastic about the talks.

“The general public does not take this next round very seriously. The first two did not answer a lot of questions,” she said, referring to the territorial issues and the implementation of a ceasefire mechanism.

As both parties prepare for further negotiations, they are also ramping up military pressure.

Kyiv said it carried out a large-scale drone attack on energy infrastructure in western Russia on Sunday.

On Monday, the governor of the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, said Russian forces destroyed more than 220 drones. The strikes, which lasted more than 12 hours, were the heaviest since the start of the war, he said. Residents were temporarily left without heating.

Russian army chief General Valery Gerasimov said on Sunday his forces took control of 12 settlements in eastern Ukraine this month, an equivalent of 200sq km (77sq miles).

“The task of the military operation continues to be carried out. The offensive is under way in all directions,” Gerasimov said while visiting troops on the front line in the Ukrainian territory.