Ukraine and Russia made some progress at U.S.-mediated talks in Geneva but did not find a compromise on the key issue of territory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday (February 18, 2026).

The United States has been pushing for an end to the nearly four-year war, which has killed tens of thousands and destroyed much of eastern and southern Ukraine, but Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over who gets what land in a post-war settlement.

Russia is pushing for full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region as part of any deal, and has threatened to take it by force if Kyiv does not cave at the negotiating table.

But Ukraine has rejected this demand, which is politically and militarily fraught, and signalled it will not sign a deal without security guarantees that deter Russia from invading again.

“We can see that some groundwork has been done, but for now the positions differ, because the negotiations were not easy,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in a message to journalists, including from AFP, after the talks had finished.

The two sides agreed on “almost all issues” related to a ceasefire monitoring mechanism which will involve the United States, Mr. Zelenskyy said.

But sensitive issues related to the fate of occupied territory in Ukraine’s east and the future status of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant remained unresolved, Mr. Zelenskyy added.

The head of Russia’s delegation said the talks were “difficult, but business-like” and that further negotiations were planned for the future.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The ensuing conflict has resulted in a tidal wave of destruction that has left entire cities in ruins, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians dead and forced millions of people to flee their homes.

Deadlock

For the Geneva talks, the Kremlin reinstated nationalist hawk and former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky as its lead negotiator.

Ukrainian national security secretary Rustem Umerov led Kyiv’s side.

Mr. Umerov said the talks were “intensive and substantive”, in a brief statement to reporters after.

He said the next step was to try to reach a level of consensus to “submit the developed decisions for consideration by the presidents”.

Donald Trump put pressure on Ukraine on Monday (February 16) to make a deal, saying they “better come to the table, fast”.

But Mr. Zelenskyy told Axios on Tuesday (February 17) it was “not fair” that Ukraine – and not Russia – was facing more pressure, adding that lasting peace would not be achieved if “victory” was just handed to Moscow.

“I hope it is just his tactics and not the decision,” Mr. Zelenskyy said.

Russia occupies around one-fifth of Ukraine – including the Crimean Peninsula it seized in 2014 – and areas that Moscow-backed separatists had taken prior to the 2022 invasion.

Ukraine says handing Russia more territory will effectively “reward” Russia for invading and embolden it to attack again.

Russian drone and artillery attacks overnight and late on Tuesday (February 17) wounded at least one person and caused damage to buildings, according to Ukrainian regional authorities.

Mr. Zelenskyy said officials from Britain, France, Germany and Italy were also in Geneva for talks on the sidelines with the Ukrainians, as he said European participation was “indispensable” if any final agreement is to be sustainable.

Russia has been slowly seizing territory across the sprawling front line for months, claiming control of villages in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and northern Sumy region on Wednesday (February 18).

But its wartime economic worries are mounting, with growth stagnating and a ballooning budget deficit as sanction-hit oil revenues drop to a five-year low.

Published – February 18, 2026 05:40 pm IST

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz chat on the 10 Downing Street doorstep after a meeting in central London on December 8, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Ukrainian servicemen operate an armoured military vehicle in the Sumy region, near the border with Russia, on August 13, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine launched a surprise offensive into the Russian border region of Kursk on August 6, 2024, capturing over two dozen towns and villages in the most significant cross-border attack on Russian soil since World War II.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Ukraine said Tuesday (August 13, 2024) it would not hold on to Russian territory captured in its surprise cross-border incursion and offered to stop raids if Moscow agreed a “just peace”.

Ukrainian forces entered Russia’s Kursk region last Tuesday, taking over two dozen settlements in the biggest attack by a foreign army on Russian soil since World War II.

More than 120,000 people have fled the area and Ukraine’s military chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Monday that his troops controlled about 1,000 square kilometres of Russian territory.

An AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War gave a lower figure of at least 800 square kilometres under Ukrainian control.

Foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy on Tuesday said Kyiv was not interested in “taking over” Russian territory and defended Ukraine’s actions as “absolutely legitimate”.

“The sooner Russia agrees to restore a just peace… the sooner the raids by the Ukrainian defences forces into Russia will stop,” he told reporters.

Ukraine also said it was imposing movement restrictions in Sumy region along the border due to an “increase in the intensity of hostilities” and “sabotage” activities.

Russia’s defence ministry meanwhile said it had “foiled” new Ukrainian attacks in Kursk by “enemy mobile groups in armoured vehicles to break through deep into Russian territory”.

Since launching its invasion in February 2022, Russia has captured territory in southern and eastern Ukraine and subjected Ukrainian cities to missile and drone barrages.

Blindfolded POWs

Ukraine has found itself outmanned and outgunned and has struggled after some early successes in pushing Russian forces back during 2022.

The current offensive into Kursk region, which caught Russia off guard, is by far the biggest cross-border action since the invasion.

On the Ukraine side of a border crossing into the Kursk region, AFP reporters saw toppled concrete fortifications and caved-in remains of security and customs buildings revealing the intensity of the fighting that swept through the area.

On the road, around 10 blindfolded and bound men in Russian military fatigues being driven in a military vehicle away from the border crossing in the direction of the city of Sumy.

“They didn’t protect the border,” a Ukrainian serviceman who took part in the offensive and identified himself as Ruzhyk told AFP in Sumy region.

“They only had anti-personnel mines scattered around trees at the side of the road and a few mines that they managed to quickly throw along the highways,” he said.

Another serviceman said that his unit of military engineers went in to clear the mines before Ukrainian tanks entered.

“But when our guys came in, the Russians ran away. They didn’t have time to press the detonate buttons.”

A 27-year-old squad leader, who identified himself as Faraon, was sparing but direct in his description of battles in Kursk.

“I saw a lot of death in the first few days. It was terrifying at first but then we got used to it,” he told AFP.

“There have been many deaths,” he repeated stood next to a forest road leading to the frontier, without elaborating.

‘Sow discord’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to “dislodge” Ukrainian troops.

Putin told a televised meeting with officials on Monday that “one of the obvious goals of the enemy is to sow discord” and “destroy the unity and cohesion of Russian society”.

Putin also said Ukraine wanted to “improve its negotiating position” for any future talks with Moscow.

Regional governor Alexei Smirnov told the same meeting that Ukrainian forces had entered at least 12 kilometres into the region and the new front was now 40 kilometres wide.

Russia had conceded earlier that Ukrainian forces had penetrated up to 30 kilometres (20 miles) into Russian territory in places.

A Ukrainian security official told AFP, on condition of anonymity, at the weekend, that Ukraine sought to “stretch the positions of the enemy, to inflict maximum losses and to destabilise the situation in Russia as they are unable to protect their own border”.

The Ukrainian official said thousands of Ukrainian troops were involved in the operation.