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.