Ukrainian and Russian negotiators concluded the first of two days of US-mediated peace talks in Geneva today, though neither side signalled they were any closer to ending Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.
Negotiations will resume on Wednesday.
The United States has been pushing for an end to the nearly four-year war, but has failed to broker a compromise between Moscow and Kyiv on the key issue of territory.
Two previous rounds of negotiation between the two sides in Abu Dhabi failed to yield a breakthrough.
The latest talks "were very tense," said a source close to the Russian delegation.
"They lasted six hours. They have now concluded," the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address he was ready "to move quickly towards a worthy agreement to end the war", but questioned whether Russia was serious about peace.
"What do they want?" he added, accusing them of prioritising missile strikes over "real diplomacy".
Today, we are starting another round of negotiations in a trilateral format — Ukraine, the United States, and Russia.
— Rustem Umerov (@rustem_umerov) February 17, 2026
We thank the American side for its engagement and consistent work in the negotiation process. We are grateful to Switzerland for organizing the meeting and… pic.twitter.com/RqfSGXDk88
Heavy airstrikes on Ukraine overnight
Ahead of the talks, Russia carried out heavy airstrikes overnight across swathes of Ukraine, inflicting severe damage to the power network in the southern port city of Odesa, which Mr Zelensky said left tens of thousands without heat and water.
Mr Zelensky called for Ukraine's allies to increase pressure on Russia to reach a "real and just" peace deal via tougher sanctions and weapons supplies to Ukraine.
Mr Trump pointed to Ukraine when asked by reporters what he was expecting from the talks in Geneva, which were following a morning of negotiations between US and Iranian officials at a different venue in the Swiss lakeside city.
"Well, we have big talks," Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. "It's going to be very easy. I mean, look, so far, Ukraine better come to the table fast. That's all I'm telling you."
Russia is demanding that Ukraine cede the remaining 20% of the eastern region of Donetsk that Moscow has failed to capture - something Ukraine refuses to do.
"This time, the idea is to discuss a broader range of issues, including, in fact, the main ones. The main issues concern both the territories and everything else related to the demands we have put forward," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters last night.
Negotiating two crises at once
The venue has switched to Geneva after Abu Dhabi hosted two rounds of talks that both sides described as constructive but which failed to reach any major breakthrough.
The Geneva round comes just days before the fourth anniversary, on 24 February, of Russia's full-scale invasion of its much smaller neighbour.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions have fled their homes, and many Ukrainian cities, towns and villages have been devastated by the conflict.
"One shouldn't trust the Russians absolutely, not even a little," said Oksana Reviakina, 41, an internally displaced person from the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, when asked about the talks while sheltering in a Kyiv metro station during an air-raid alert.
Russia occupies about 20% of Ukraine's national territory, including Crimea and parts of the eastern Donbas region seized before the 2022 invasion. Its recent airstrikes on energy infrastructure have left hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without heating and power during the course of a harsh winter.
Expectations low for significant breakthrough
The Kremlin said the Russian delegation was being led by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to President Vladimir Putin.
However, the fact that Ukrainian negotiators have accused Mr Medinsky in the past of lecturing them about history as an excuse for Russia's invasion has further lowered expectations for any significant breakthrough in Geneva.
Military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov will also take part in the talks, while Mr Putin's special envoy Kirill Dmitriev will be part of a separate working group on economic issues.
Kyiv's delegation is led by Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine's national security and defence council, and Mr Zelensky's chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov. Senior presidential aide Serhiy Kyslytsya is also present.
Before the delegation left for Geneva, Umerov said Ukraine's goal of "a sustainable and lasting peace" remained unchanged.
As well as land, Russia and Ukraine also remain far apart on issues such as who should control the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the possible role of Western troops in postwar Ukraine.
Total of 2,000 Ukrainian children now returned from Russian occupation: Zelensky
Separately, Mr Zelensky has said that 2,000 Ukrainian children had been brought back from Russia and Russian-occupied land since the start of the war, but that thousands more remained "captive".
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has been accused of forcibly transferring around 20,000 children from parts of Ukraine seized by its army.
The International Criminal Court in 2023 issued an arrest warrant for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his children's rights commissioner "for the war crime of unlawful deportation" of children.
Kyiv says Russia has indoctrinated them, forced many to adopt Russian citizenship and tried to scrub them of their Ukrainian identity - accusations supported by testimony from Ukrainians who managed to leave Russian occupation.
"Today, we have achieved a significant result – two thousand Ukrainian children have been brought home from under Russia's control," Mr Zelensky said in a post on social media.
"The road ahead remains long and difficult. Thousands of Ukrainian children are still held captive by Russia, becoming victims of its crimes every day," he added.
