Whitkoff Says 'significant Progress' After First Day Of Talks In Geneva
- 18.02.2026, 9:16
At the same time, Axios says the political group's negotiations have stalled because of Medinsky.
Trump's special envoy Steve Whitkoff declared that "significant progress" has been made after the first day of talks in Geneva between Ukraine, the United States and Russia.
Whitkoff informed that on February 17, at the direction of President Donald Trump, the United States "moderated the third series of trilateral talks with Ukraine and Russia." He also thanked Switzerland for its hospitality, before noting Trump's success in resolving the "conflict."
"President Trump's success in bringing both sides of this war together has led to significant progress, and we are proud to be working under his leadership to stop the killing in this terrible conflict. Both sides agreed to brief their leaders and continue working on an agreement," Whitkoff wrote.
Negotiations in Geneva
Reminder, the third round of trilateral talks to end the war in Ukraine is taking place in Geneva on February 17-18.
On the eve of the talks, the Ukrainian authorities announced that at the talks they plan to talk about how the monitoring mission will work in the event of a ceasefire, and will also raise the topic of an energy truce.
After the first day of the meeting, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to cease strikes and move toward a peace agreement, but expects a clear position from Russia.
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov said that the discussions focused on practical mechanisms for possible solutions. He announced that the political and military groups would continue their work today, the 18th.
After the first day, Umerov held a separate meeting with representatives of the US, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The parties discussed the results of the first round and agreed on approaches to further steps.
But according to some reports, there were still problems in the negotiations with the Russian Federation. It is known that at this meeting the Russian delegation was again led by Putin's aide and ideologue Vladimir Medinsky.
In the spring of 2022 and in May 2025, he had already headed the negotiating group, talked about the Russian Federation's claims to Ukrainian territories since the time of Prince Rurik, which in the end never led to any peace.
As for the first day, according to Axios, the negotiations of the political group in Geneva reached an impasse. The reason for this was the positions presented by Medinsky.