Zelenskyy instructs his negotiating team to arrange meeting with Putin in Geneva

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that he instructed Ukraine's negotiating team to organise a future leaders' meeting involving Ukraine, the United States and Russia in Geneva.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with Axios

Details: Zelenskyy believes the best way to achieve a breakthrough on territorial issues in the talks would be a personal meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

He said he had tasked his team with arranging a future summit at leaders' level in Geneva.

It was also reported that US mediators had proposed that Ukrainian forces withdraw from the parts of Donbas they currently control and allow the area to become a demilitarised "free economic zone". Washington has not taken a position on which country would hold sovereignty over the territory.

Zelenskyy said he is ready to discuss a troop withdrawal, but called on Moscow to pull back its forces by an equivalent distance and rejected Russia's claims to sovereignty over the area.

He added that during the second round of talks Russian officials had promised to consult Moscow and return with a detailed position on the territorial issue.

Background:

• On 17 February, the delegations of Ukraine, the US and Russia in Geneva concluded the first day of talks in both political and military tracks. The groups will continue their work on the morning of 18 February, with statements from the sides expected afterwards.
• Zelenskyy said that Ukrainians will not accept a peace deal that involves Ukraine's unilateral withdrawal from Donbas and its handover to Russia.

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