Russia pummeled cities across Ukraine with drone and missile strikes ahead of talks on Thursday in Geneva between American and Ukrainian negotiators to prepare for the next round of trilateral peace negotiations.
The drone and missile attack targeted Ukrainian cities, wounded at least 20 people and damaged buildings in eight regions, including in Kyiv, officials said. President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on social media on Thursday that the Russian strikes had targeted gas infrastructure and power substations.
The latest barrage was launched just days after Ukraine marked the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s special envoy; and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, are scheduled to hold discussions with Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s chief negotiator and head of the National Security and Defense Council, in Geneva on Thursday. Mr. Zelensky said that the talks would focus on organizing the next meeting with Russia and would include discussion of what the Trump administration has described as a “prosperity package” for Ukraine to help the country recover after the war.
The peace talks started last month and the only concrete result has been a prisoner exchange, highlighting the difficulties of reaching a deal to end the war. Mr. Umerov was expected to raise the possibility of another prisoner exchange during the talks with the Americans on Thursday. The last round of U.S.-mediated negotiations took place in Geneva on Feb. 17 and 18, but Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner skipped the second day of meetings, which lasted just two hours.
On Wednesday evening, Mr. Zelensky said on social media that he had spoken by phone with Mr. Trump, Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner, and he thanked them for their efforts to end the war. He said that he expected the talks on Thursday to help move the negotiations to “the leaders’ level.”
“President Trump supports this sequence of steps,” Mr. Zelensky said. “This is the only way to resolve all the complex and sensitive issues and finally end the war.”
Kim Barker is a Times reporter writing in-depth stories about the war in Ukraine.
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