Steve Witkoff says Geneva talks show 'significant progress'
Steve Witkoff (Photo: Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said significant progress had been achieved after the first day of talks in Geneva between Ukraine, the US, and Russia, according to his post on X.
Read also: Geneva talks: Key details on Ukraine-US-Russia meeting
Witkoff said that on February 17, at Trump’s direction, the US served as moderator for the third round of trilateral negotiations with Ukraine and Russia. He also thanked Switzerland for its hospitality and praised Trump’s success in addressing the conflict.
“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. Both parties agreed to update their respective leaders and continue working towards a deal,” Witkoff wrote.
Talks in Geneva
The third round of trilateral negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine is taking place in Geneva on February 17–18.
Ahead of the talks, Ukrainian authorities announced that discussions would focus on how a monitoring mission would operate in the event of a ceasefire, as well as on the issue of an energy truce.
After the first day of the meeting, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine confirms its readiness to halt strikes and move toward a peace agreement, but expects a clear position from Russia.
National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov said the discussions focused on practical mechanisms for potential decisions. He announced that today, February 18, the political and military groups would continue their work.
In addition, after the first day, Umerov held a separate meeting with representatives of the US, France, the UK, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. The parties discussed the results of the first round and agreed on approaches to further steps.
However, according to some reports, problems still arose in the negotiations with Russia. As is known, the Russian delegation at this meeting was again headed by Putin aide and ideologue Vladimir Medinsky.
Previously, in the spring of 2022 and in May 2025, he had already led the negotiating group, speaking about Russia’s claims to Ukrainian territories dating back to the time of Prince Rurik - claims that ultimately did not lead to any peace.
As for today, according to Axios, the political group’s talks in Geneva have reached a deadlock. The reason was the positions presented by Medinsky.
