In remarks to world leaders on Feb. 14, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed hope that upcoming U.S.-mediated talks would yield progress toward ending fighting with Russia, but he also expressed frustration that his country is expected to make greater concessions.
Delegations from Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington are set to meet next week in Geneva to hold a third round of trilateral peace talks. The first set of trilateral talks took place in the United Arab Emirates on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24, and a second round took place on Feb. 3 and 4, again in the UAE.
“We truly hope that the trilateral meetings next week will be serious, substantive, helpful for all of us, but honestly sometimes it feels like the sides are talking about completely different things,” the Ukrainian president said in remarks at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 14.
Zelenskyy said the Russian side often refers to a “spirit of Anchorage,” leaving their Ukrainian counterparts guessing at the meaning. U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Anchorage, Alaska, in August 2025.
“The Americans often return to the topic of concessions, and too often those concessions are discussed in the context only of Ukraine, not Russia,” Zelenskyy said.
In a separate appearance at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 14, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the remaining issues to be negotiated pose some of the biggest challenges to ending the fighting between Russia and Ukraine.
“The good news is that the issues that need to be confronted to end this war have been narrowed. ... The bad news is they’ve been narrowed to the hardest questions to answer, and work remains to be done in that front,” Rubio said.
Rubio noted that while negotiations are still playing out, the United States has continued to apply economic sanctions on Russia.
Territory remains a contentious topic in negotiations.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivers a keynote speech at the 62nd Munich Security Conference in Munich on Feb. 14, 2026. (Johannes Simon/Getty Images)
Russia seized control of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. Since starting a new assault into Ukraine in February 2022, Russian forces have made new territorial gains.
At present, Russian forces control about 20 percent of Ukraine’s pre-2014 territory.
Russia holds most of the Donetsk province but has called on Kyiv to hand over about 20 percent of the province that Russian forces have thus far failed to capture by force. Kyiv has refused to grant this concession.
During his remarks on Feb. 14, Zelenskyy said European interests should have greater representation in the peace talks.
“Europe is practically not present at the table. It’s a big mistake, to my mind,” the Ukrainian president said.
Zelenskyy also reiterated calls for international security guarantees for Ukraine.
“Peace can only be built on clear security guarantees. Where there is no clear security system, war always returns,” the Ukrainian leader said.
Last week, the European Union agreed on terms for a $106 billion loan to financially support Ukraine in 2026 and 2027.
This week, North Atlantic Treaty Organization members pledged to support more than $1 billion in sales of U.S. military equipment for Ukraine.
Reuters contributed to this report.
