US President Donald Trump has said ahead of the planned trilateral talks in Geneva on ending the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine that Ukraine should “come to the negotiating table quickly”. Audio of Trump’s communication with journalists on the presidential plane on 16 February was posted on his YouTube channel by the White House.
“Important negotiations. It’s going to be very easy. For now, Ukraine better get to the negotiating table quickly. That’s all I can tell you,” the US President said.
Earlier, Trump said that in his opinion, Russia wants to conclude the agreement against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian delegation arrived in Geneva the previous evening, where trilateral talks between representatives of Ukraine, the USA and Russia are expected to take place on 17 and 18 February, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council Rustem Umerov said in the evening of 16 February.
He expressed hope “for constructive work and substantive meetings on security and humanitarian issues to move towards a dignified and sustainable peace”.
On 23-24 January, as well as on 4 and 5 February in Abu Dhabi (UAE), preliminary talks between Ukraine and Russia, mediated by the United States, were held on ways to end the war. The sides did not achieve a significant breakthrough on ending the war. As a result of the meeting on 5 February, the delegations reached an agreement on the exchange of prisoners of war, the first in the last five months.
U.S. Presidential Special Envoy Steve Witkoff called the discussions on 4 and 5 February “constructive and focused on how to create the conditions for a lasting peace.” He said the talks in Abu Dhabi, UAE, had discussed a ceasefire.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after the talks on 4 February that the list of open issues between Ukraine and Russia on reaching a peace agreement had been reduced, but, according to him, the “most difficult” issues remain. Before that, on 28 January, Rubio said that the territorial issue remained unresolved.
In January, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the territorial issue within the framework of the so-called “Anchorage formula” is important for Russia. The Kremlin does not disclose the content of the formula.
According to Reuters, it envisages Russian control over all of Donbass and freezing the rest of the front line. Russian officials regularly appeal to” agreements” that the Kremlin claims were reached by Russia and the United States at the U.S.-Russian summit in Anchorage, Alaska, in August 2025, even though no agreements were reported following that meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
On 25 January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a visit to Vilnius that Kiev’s position on the territories had not changed and that all sides should be ready to compromise. He also said that the bilateral security guarantees from the USA were “100 per cent ready” and Kiev was waiting for them to be signed. In December, President Zelenskyy said that the issue of possible territorial solutions should be decided by the people of Ukraine “in the format of an election or in the format of a referendum”.