‘Difficult’ Ukraine-Russia peace talks end with no deal

The latest U.S.-brokered talks between envoys from Moscow and Kyiv, over Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, have ended with no sign of a breakthrough.

After the meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, both sides said Wednesday that the talks were “difficult,” as the war’s fourth anniversary approaches next week.

The negotiations in Switzerland were the third round of direct talks organized by the U.S. after meetings earlier this year in Abu Dhabi, that officials described as constructive, but which also made no major headway.

Expectations for significant progress in Geneva were low.

“The main sticking points remain the sticking points that have been there essentially since the beginning, one is the question of the status of the territory in the east, which is where most of the fighting is happening,” said Jane Boulden, a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada. “Russia wants all of it.”

Secondly, Boulden says Russia wants the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, while Ukraine doesn’t want to give it up either.

“It’s the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe, it generates a lot of power and again, Ukraine says ‘it was ours in the beginning, so why should we hand it over’,” said Boulden.
The third sticking point: Ukraine demanding a security guarantee.

“Ukraine argues that there’s no point in them actually agreeing to anything until there’s a security guarantee, because there’s absolutely nothing to guarantee that Russia wouldn’t take a few months, maybe longer, to get themselves back together, stronger and then come back for more,” said Boulden.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of “trying to drag out negotiations” while it pressed on with its invasion.

“Not just attack, but attack in a significant way — continuing to target infrastructure and many civilian targets,” said Boulden.

A group from Niagara has raised $90,000 through meditation events for Ukraine and have two more scheduled in March.

“We’ve run 14 different fundraising events over the last four years,” said Joe Hube, the organizer of the Niagara Sunflower Festival for Ukrainian Relief. “We were inspired in 2022 when the full invasion started.”

They don’t feel that U.S. President Donald Trump has Ukraine’s best interests at heart.

“I’m saddened to say that the Americans are not fair arbiters in any of this — they are not on Ukraine’s side,” said Hube. “They’re no friend of Ukraine — I mean, Trump obviously is not a friend of Ukraine.”

Trump is seemingly getting frustrated by the slow pace of progress and said, “Ukraine better come to the table fast.”

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