One week forward of the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, United States-led peace talks in Geneva ended for the day sooner than scheduled on Wednesday.
The talks, that are being mediated by Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s particular envoy, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, are simply the most recent of plenty of makes an attempt to finish the deadliest combating in Europe since World Struggle II – and none have reached a breakthrough.
Throughout his presidential marketing campaign in 2024, Trump claimed repeatedly that he would dealer a ceasefire in Ukraine inside “24 hours”. Nonetheless, he has been unable to fulfil this promise.
Here’s a timeline of the mediation efforts to finish the Russia-Ukraine struggle, which has killed greater than one million individuals, because it heads in direction of its fifth yr.
February 28, 2022 – direct talks
The primary ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine befell simply 4 days after Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The assembly lasted about 5 hours, and featured high-level officers, however with diametrically opposing targets. Nothing got here of their talks.
Then, the 2 sides held three rounds of direct talks in Belarus, ending on March 7, however, once more, nothing was agreed.
March-April 2022 – regional talks in Antalya
On March 10, the overseas ministers of Ukraine and Russia, Dmytro Kuleba and Sergey Lavrov, met for the primary time for the reason that struggle began, on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Discussion board in Turkiye.
A second assembly between senior leaders in Istanbul in direction of the top of the month did not safe a ceasefire.
Then, the withdrawal of Russian forces in early April from elements of Ukraine revealed proof of massacres dedicated in opposition to the Ukrainian civilian inhabitants in Bucha and Irpin close to Kyiv, in northern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated this might make negotiations far more tough, however that it was essential to stick with the dialogue. Russian President Vladimir Putin later declared the negotiations had been at a “useless finish” because of Ukraine’s allegations of struggle crimes.
July 2022 – Black Sea Grain Initiative, Istanbul
In July 2022, the Black Sea Grain Initiative was signed by Ukraine and Russia with Turkiye and the United Nations in Istanbul. It was essentially the most important diplomatic breakthrough for the primary yr of the struggle.
The settlement aimed to forestall a world meals disaster by designating a protected maritime humanitarian hall by way of the Black Sea for cargoes of thousands and thousands of tons of grain caught in Ukrainian ports.
November 2022 – Ukraine’s peace plan
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy offered a 10-point peace proposal on the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Indonesia, inside which he referred to as for Russia’s withdrawal from all Ukrainian territory in addition to measures to make sure radiation and nuclear security, meals safety, and safety for Ukraine’s grain exports.
He additionally demanded power safety and the discharge of all Ukrainian prisoners and deportees, together with struggle prisoners and kids deported to Russia.
Russia rejected Zelenskyy’s peace proposal, reiterating that it could not surrender any territory it had taken by pressure, which stood at about one-fifth of Ukraine by then.
February 2023 – China’s peace plan
China proposed a 12-point peace plan calling for a ceasefire and the top of “unilateral sanctions” that had been imposed by Western nations on Russia. Beijing urged either side to renew talks on the idea that “the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all international locations should be successfully upheld”.
The proposal was criticised by Western allies of Kyiv for not acknowledging “Russia’s violation of Ukrainian sovereignty”.
June 2023 – Africa’s peace plan
In June 2023, a high-level delegation of African leaders, led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and together with the presidents of Senegal and Zambia, visited each Kyiv and St Petersburg to current a 10-point plan specializing in de-escalation and grain exports.
Analysts stated it was pushed largely by the struggle’s impression on African meals safety and fertiliser costs.
However Ukrainian President Zelenskyy rejected the decision for “de-escalation”, arguing {that a} ceasefire with out a Russian withdrawal would merely “freeze” the struggle.
The next month, President Putin pulled Russia out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
August 2023 – Jeddah summit
Saudi Arabia hosted representatives from 40 international locations to debate Zelenskyy’s “Peace System”, however no closing settlement or joint assertion was reached.
In a significant shock, Beijing despatched its particular envoy, Li Hui, to the talks. However Russia was not invited, and the Kremlin stated the efforts would fail.
June 2024 – Switzerland peace summit
The June 2024 Summit on Peace in Ukraine, held at Switzerland’s Burgenstock resort, introduced collectively greater than 90 nations to debate a framework for ending the battle in Ukraine. The summit centered on nuclear security, meals safety and prisoner exchanges, although Russia was not invited, and several other nations, together with India and Saudi Arabia, didn’t signal the ultimate joint communique.
February 2025 – Trump-Putin name
A month after starting his second time period as US president, Trump posted on his Reality Social platform that he held an extended cellphone name together with his Russian counterpart, Putin, in a bid to restart direct negotiations geared toward ending the struggle.
On February 18, delegations from Washington and the Kremlin, together with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Overseas Minister Lavrov, met in Saudi Arabia.
They laid the groundwork for future negotiations, however the talks raised important considerations in Kyiv and Brussels, as each Ukraine and the European Union had been sidelined from the assembly.
February 2025 – Zelenskyy goes to the White Home
Ten days later, on February 28, there got here a saturation level on the White Home.
In one of the crucial confrontational moments in trendy diplomacy, President Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated President Zelenskyy in a televised assembly within the Oval Workplace.
Zelenskyy – referred to as out for not sporting a swimsuit and never expressing sufficient gratitude to the US – discovered himself cornered.
August 2025 – Witkoff goes to Moscow
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to Moscow to fulfill Putin on August 6. It was his third journey to Moscow and got here amid renewed Western threats of sanctions on Russian oil exports and US threats of “secondary” commerce tariffs.
Trump stated afterwards that the assembly was “extremely productive” and that “everybody agrees this struggle should come to an in depth”. Nothing extra concrete got here out of this assembly, nevertheless.
August 15, 2025 – Alaska summit
Trump dropped his sanctions menace and met Putin in person on August 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.
However no deal was reached.
August 18, 2025
Trump hosted Zelenskyy and different European leaders in Washington and stated he would ask Putin to comply with a trilateral summit.
However nothing got here out of this go to, both.
November 2025 – Geneva talks
In November 2025, the Geneva talks grew to become a flashpoint for Western unity, because the Trump administration’s controversial 28-point plan leaked to the press, reportedly involving a cap on Ukraine’s navy and a freeze on NATO membership. It additionally advised that Ukraine ought to cede territory to Russia.
Reportedly authored by US envoy Witkoff together with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, the draft sparked accusations that the US was drafting a “capitulation” for Ukraine.
No deal was reached after revisions had been made to the draft proposal.
December 2025 – Berlin and Miami talks
On December 14 and 15 final yr, President Zelenskyy travelled to Berlin to fulfill US envoys Witkoff and Kushner, alongside a robust group of European leaders, together with Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and France’s President Emmanuel Macron.
Following this, US negotiators optimistically claimed that 90 % of the problems between the 2 sides had been resolved.
Then, later within the month, Witkoff and Kushner hosted one other session of talks in Miami, Florida within the US. However the points round sovereignty over Ukraine’s Donbas area and the precise line of demarcation proved inconceivable to bridge.
And no deal was reached.
January 2026 – Abu Dhabi talks
On January 23, high-level delegations from the US, Ukraine and Russia sat nose to nose to carry trilateral talks for the primary time for the reason that 2022 invasion.
Hosted on the Al Shati Palace in Abu Dhabi, talks had been mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
One other spherical of talks was held on February 4, reaching an settlement on a significant prisoner exchange however leaving key political and safety points unresolved.
The delegations agreed to alternate 314 prisoners of struggle – 157 every – the primary such swap in 5 months.
February 17-18, 2026: Geneva talks
Talks in Geneva are presently below method.
Senior navy figures from each Ukraine and Russia have attended the second three-way effort, together with the US, to finish the struggle in Ukraine. These have largely stalled up to now as a result of Russia’s insistence on holding territory it has seized from Ukraine.
