Zelensky hopes for serious, substantive talks with US, Russia

MUNICH — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he hopes for serious and substantive discussions in the upcoming peace talks with Russia and the United States in Geneva.

"We truly hope that the trilateral meetings next week will be serious, substantive, and helpful for all of us," Zelensky said during a speech at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday (local time), according to a report on the Ukrainian president's official website.

Zelensky said that the United States, in trilateral negotiations, has too often discussed the topic of concessions with Ukraine, not Russia.

"The Americans often return to the topic of concessions -- and too often those concessions are discussed in the context only of Ukraine -- not Russia," he said.

In late January and early February, two rounds of security working group talks involving representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the United States were held in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, reports Xinhua news agency.

Ukraine and Russia agreed to a large-scale prisoner exchange but failed to achieve substantive breakthroughs on core issues such as territorial arrangements and a ceasefire.

The next round of talks will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday in Geneva.

The Russian delegation will be led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, Russia's state news agency TASS reported, citing Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Ukraine's chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, wrote on Facebook that the Ukrainian negotiating team has been formed, incorporating the military, political, and security components of the process.

Umerov stressed that achieving a sustainable and lasting peace remains the goal of the Ukrainian delegation at the talks.

The first round of trilateral security consultations among the three countries was held on January 23-24 in Abu Dhabi, where the Russian delegation was led by the country's military intelligence chief, Igor Kostyukov.