Witkoff says 'meaningful progress' made as Ukraine talks enter second day

GENEVA — Talks between Ukraine and Russia has “brought about meaningful progress” to end the war, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said as both sides prepared for a second day of negotiations in Geneva on Wednesday.”President Trump’s success in bringing both sides of this war together has brought about meaningful progress, and we are proud to work under his leadership to stop the killing in this terrible conflict,” Witkoff wrote on X.Hopes for a breakthrough during the talks are low, as the Kremlin has not wavered from its demands for Ukrainian territory.US President Donald Trump has recently suggested it is up to Ukraine to ensure talks in Switzerland are successful, without mentioning Russia.As Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators held talks in Geneva, Zelensky said the US president was exerting undue pressure on him in trying to secure a resolution to the nearly four-year-old war pitting Kyiv against Moscow.Zelensky, in an interview with US website Axios published on Tuesday, said it was “not fair” that Trump kept publicly calling on Ukraine, not Russia, to make concessions in negotiating terms for a peace plan.”I hope it is just his tactics and not the decision,” Axios quoted Zelenskiy as saying in the interview, conducted by phone.Zelensky has repeatedly said his country is being asked to make disproportionate compromises compared to Russia.Russia occupies roughly 20% of Ukraine, including large parts of the eastern Donbas region. The Kremlin wants Ukraine to hand over the rest of the region, which Ukraine has ruled out.Ukraine says robust security guarantees from the West, including the US , must come before any settlement with Russia can be agreed.In a statement on social media on Tuesday evening, top Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov said the first day of talks focused on “practical issues and the mechanics of possible solutions”.In his video address shortly afterward, Zelensky said Ukraine was ready to refrain from carrying out strikes, as proposed by the US to both Kyiv and Moscow.”We don’t need war,” he said, stressing that Ukrainians were “defending our state, our independence”.”We are also ready to quickly move towards a worthy agreement to end the war. The question is only for the Russians: What do they want?”The talks are the third round of trilateral negotiations.Russia’s state RIA news agency quoted a source saying that Tuesday’s negotiations, which lasted six hours, had been tense and took place in different bilateral and trilateral formats.The talks are being mediated by Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the US president’s son-in-law.On the Russian side, President Vladimir Putin’s aide Vladimir Medinsky is the top negotiator.The negotiations are being held a week before the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.The Russian Defence Ministry said 43 Ukrainian drones were shot down over several Russian regions and Crimea overnight into Wednesday. — Agencies