Russia announced Friday, February 13, 2026, that a latest round of talks involving representatives from Ukraine and the United States will take place next week, as both sides seek a path toward resolving the nearly five-year-old conflict. The announcement comes amid continued fighting and stalled diplomatic efforts.
“There is an agreement that this will take place next week. We will inform you of the place and dates,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov told several media outlets during his daily telephone briefing. He later clarified that the negotiations will be held on February 17 and 18 in Geneva, Switzerland, in a trilateral format involving Russia, the United States, and Ukraine, according to the Ria Novosti news agency.
The Ukrainian negotiator, Rustem Umerov, confirmed Moscow’s announcement. Umerov stated that the Ukrainian delegation will include Kirilo Budanov, head of the presidential office; Andriy Hnatov, chief of the General Staff; David Arakhamia, leader of the ruling parliamentary group; Andriy Kislitsia, deputy foreign minister; and Vadim Skibitsky, the number two in military intelligence.
Umerov, who also serves as secretary of Ukraine’s National Security Council, explained that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy selected the delegation to ensure that military, political, and security aspects of the negotiations are adequately addressed. “We will function to ensure that substantial decisions are made within the framework defined by the head of state,” Umerov wrote, adding that Ukraine’s objective remains achieving “a solid and lasting peace.”
The upcoming talks will likely focus on the ongoing territorial dispute and security guarantees for Ukraine, issues that have proven to be major sticking points in previous discussions. Previous negotiations held in Abu Dhabi, with U.S. Mediation, failed to yield a decisive breakthrough.
Russia has consistently demanded concessions from Ukraine, which Kyiv views as tantamount to surrender. Moscow is pressing for Ukraine to withdraw from approximately 17% of the eastern Donetsk region. Currently, Russia occupies roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014, and areas previously held by Moscow-backed separatists before 2022.
Zelenskyy has refused a unilateral withdrawal and is seeking robust security guarantees from Western nations to deter Russia from resuming its offensive following any ceasefire. He has stated that such guarantees are a prerequisite before any peace agreement can be signed or elections held, as demanded by both Moscow and Washington.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cautioned Friday that “a great deal of work remains to be done” and criticized the Trump administration for abandoning understandings reached during the Russian-American summit in Alaska in August 2025. According to reports, these “understandings” involved a Ukrainian military withdrawal from the Donbas region, whereas Moscow would accept a freeze on the front lines in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, where Kyiv controls approximately one-third of the territory.
The only concrete outcome of the Abu Dhabi talks was an exchange of 314 prisoners of war, including both combatants and civilians.
rml (efe, reuters, afp, updated at 14:49 CET)
