<\/p>\nListen to this article<\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span>2 mins<\/span><\/p>\n<\/button>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Russian and Ukrainian officials have launched a third round of United States-brokered peace negotiations in Switzerland days before the bloody Ukraine war hits its four-year mark.<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine\u2019s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov said the two days of talks that started on Tuesday in Geneva will address \u201csecurity and humanitarian issues\u201d.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 4 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>The Ukrainian side is \u201cworking constructively, focused and without excessive expectations\u201d, Umerov posted on social media.<\/p>\n<p>The US is represented by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who joined the negotiations after helping mediate indirect talks with Iranian officials at a separate venue in the Swiss city earlier in the day.<\/p>\n<p>The Kremlin said \u2060the Russian delegation is led by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to President Vladimir Putin. Discussions will take place behind closed doors without any media present, it added.<\/p>\n<p>Government officials from Germany, France, Britain, and Italy are also reportedly to take part in the talks.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"both-sides-trade-fire\">Both sides trade fire<\/h2>\n<p>Before the negotiations, Ukraine accused Russia of undermining peace efforts by launching 29 missiles and 396 drones overnight. At least nine people were wounded, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said tens of thousands of residents were left without heating and running water in the southern port city of Odesa.<\/p>\n<p>Russia, meanwhile, claimed to have repelled more than 150 Ukrainian drones, most over southern regions and the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula, while officials said an oil depot in southern Russia caught fire.<\/p>\n<p>Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia planned to bring up \u201ca broader range of issues\u201d during the Geneva talks, including the major issue of territory. About 20 percent of Ukrainian land has been seized by Moscow since 2014.<\/p>\n<p>The commander of the US military \u2013 and NATO forces \u2013 in Europe, General Alexus Grynkewich, and Secretary of the US Army Dan Driscoll are attending the discussions and will meet their Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, said spokesman Colonel Martin O\u2019Donnell.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"people-are-exhausted\">\u2018People are exhausted\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Many Ukrainians, weary from relentless air attacks, \u201cstill wonder whether Russia is in fact negotiating in good faith\u201d, said Al Jazeera\u2019s Audrey MacAlpine, reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are really exhausted,\u201d said Kyiv resident Alina Yemets. \u201cThere have been so many of these meetings, so much talk about a ceasefire. Belief [they will produce] a good result is not very strong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zelenskyy called for Kyiv\u2019s allies to increase pressure on Russia to reach a \u201creal and just\u201d peace deal via tougher sanctions and weapons supplies to Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>US President Donald Trump has pushed both Moscow and Kyiv to reach \u2060a deal to end Europe\u2019s biggest war since 1945, though Zelenskyy has complained his country is facing more pressure to make concessions.<\/p>\n<p>When asked by reporters what he expects from the Geneva negotiations, Trump singled out Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, we have big talks,\u201d Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be very easy. I mean, look, so far, Ukraine better come to the table fast. That\u2019s all I\u2019m telling you.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"key-obstacle\">Key obstacle<\/h2>\n<p>Russia is demanding Ukraine cede the remaining 20 percent of the eastern region of Donetsk that Moscow has failed to capture \u2013 something Kyiv refuses to do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe central sticking point between all this remains the issue of land \u2013 of eastern Ukraine,\u201d said Al Jazeera\u2019s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Geneva.<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine\u2019s army has put up a strong defence, costing Russia heavy losses during its slow, painstaking advance over the past four years.<\/p>\n<p>Kyiv is \u201ctrying to paint any Russian capture of the rest of the Donetsk region as something that is not inevitable, something that will take them many lives and perhaps many years to do\u201d, MacAlpine said.<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine views the idea of making territorial compromises before clear security guarantees to be \u201ca bit of a cart before the horse scenario\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n<p>Geneva was chosen to host the latest round of talks after two earlier sessions in Abu Dhabi, which both sides described as constructive but which failed to produce any major breakthrough.<\/p>\n<p>The discussions come a week before the four-year anniversary on February 24 of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of its much smaller neighbour, Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Estimates suggest 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 war.<\/p>\n<p>Russia\u2019s recent air strikes on energy infrastructure have left hundreds of thousands \u2060of Ukrainians without heat and electricity during the harsh winter months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a02 mins info Russian and Ukrainian officials have launched a third round of United States-brokered peace negotiations in Switzerland days before the bloody Ukraine war hits its four-year mark. Ukraine\u2019s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov said the two days of talks that started on Tuesday in Geneva will address \u201csecurity and humanitarian issues\u201d. 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