US-mediated negotiations between Ukraine and Russia ended on Wednesday with some progress on the monitoring of a future ceasefire, including potential American involvement, but with no breakthrough on the most contentious political issues, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The talks in Switzerland that began on Tuesday came as Europe’s largest conflict since the second world war nears a fifth year with no clear end in sight, despite Donald Trump’s push to end it by summer. Two previous rounds of talks took place in Abu Dhabi earlier this year.
In a voice note sent to reporters on Wednesday, the Ukrainian president expressed cautious optimism, saying that Kyiv and Moscow had made headway in agreeing on how a future armistice would be secured.
“On the military track, I have heard that there is progress,” Zelenskyy said.
“The military understand how to monitor a ceasefire and the end of the war, if there is political will. Essentially, they have agreed on almost everything there,” he continued. “The monitoring will definitely involve the American side. I believe this is a constructive signal.”
The US has committed to using intelligence and other high-tech capabilities to ensure compliance with any potential truce as part of bilateral security guarantees being discussed with Kyiv, according to Ukrainian and European officials involved in negotiations with Washington on the matter.
Zelenskyy was more pessimistic, however, about the prospect of reaching an agreement on what he called the most “sensitive matters”, including the control of the eastern Donbas region and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — the largest atomic facility in Europe.
“On the political track, there was dialogue, and there was agreement to move forward, to continue,” Zelenskyy said. “I did not hear the same level of progress as on the military side.”
Russia has demanded that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the territory of the eastern Donbas region that remains under Kyiv’s control. Zelenskyy has repeatedly said he would not hand over land to Moscow and that the Ukrainian public would never accept such a concession.
He has said any final deal on territory would probably need to be struck in person with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has thus far shown no willingness to compromise and halt his invasion.
Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia’s delegation in Geneva, said the latest talks were “difficult, but businesslike”. Russia and Ukraine planned to hold another round of talks soon, he added.
Zelenskyy in an earlier statement on social media described the meetings as “difficult” and said “Russia is trying to drag out negotiations that could already have reached the final stage”.
Earlier this month, Zelenskyy told reporters that Trump was pushing Ukraine to agree a deal to end the war before summer, so that the US president’s administration could focus its attention on the American midterm elections in November.
On Tuesday, Trump appeared to pile more pressure on Kyiv, saying, “Ukraine better come to the table fast”. He added: “We are in a position, we want them to come.”
Zelenskyy has urged Trump to apply more pressure on Russia to come to the table and make compromises to bring its invasion to an end.
But Moscow has escalated its missile and drone attacks on Kyiv’s critical infrastructure, causing widespread power blackouts and knocking out heating to thousands of apartment buildings amid the harshest winter in more than a decade.
Russia’s war on Ukraine has only worsened for civilians since Trump began his second term, with the number of people killed in 2025 greater than the number the previous year, according to the UN. The total civilian casualties in Ukraine in 2025 reached at least 2,514 killed and 12,142 injured, a 31 per cent increase compared with 2024, and a 70 per cent increase compared with 2023, it said.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian delegation also held separate consultations with Kyiv’s western partners present in Geneva.
“It’s important to maintain a common vision and co-ordination of actions between Ukraine, the US and Europe,” said Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s lead negotiator and head of the national security council. “There is an understanding of shared responsibility for the outcome.”
Representatives of the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland took part in the consultations, he said.
“We consider Europe’s participation in the process indispensable for the successful implementation of entirely feasible agreements,” Zelenskyy said.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, said the latest round of talks had “brought about meaningful progress”.
“Both parties agreed to update their respective leaders and continue working towards a deal,” he said early Wednesday.
He was accompanied in the talks by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who also joined the Abu Dhabi talks. Those meetings ended with an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to exchange 314 prisoners of war.
Additional reporting by Max Seddon in Berlin