The China Mail - US-Ukraine talks to open in Geneva after overnight Russian strikes

The meeting will bring together Ukraine's lead negotiator Rustem Umerov and Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, with a full trilateral session involving Russia expected in early March.

The meetings are the latest round of negotiations spearheaded by Trump that so far have failed to make meaningful progress on ending Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

Washington is pushing to bring an end to the war triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion, which has left hundreds of thousands dead and destroyed swathes of territory, particularly in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Russian state news agency Tass reported the Kremlin's economic affairs envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, also plans to be in the Swiss city.

"Dmitriev plans to arrive in Geneva on Thursday to pursue negotiations with the Americans on economic issues," it cited an unnamed source as saying.

Kyiv hopes tangible progress in Geneva could pave the way for talks at the leaders' level.

Hours before the meeting, Russian forces launched a wave of attacks in Ukraine before dawn.

AFP journalists heard several explosions in central Kyiv shortly after authorities warned of incoming targets.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported high-speed objects speeding toward the capital, and Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city's military administration, later said Russia was using drones and ballistic missiles for its bombardment of the capital.

Attacks also took place in the regions of Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk, with officials reporting seven wounded in Kharkiv alone.

- Preparatory talks -

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ahead of the talks, with both Witkoff and Kushner part of the 30-minute call.

Zelensky said on social media that they "discussed the issues that our representatives will address tomorrow in Geneva during the bilateral meeting, as well as preparations for the next meeting of the full negotiating teams in a trilateral format at the very beginning of March".

"We expect this meeting to create an opportunity to move talks to the leaders' level. President Trump supports this sequence of steps. This is the only way to resolve all the complex and sensitive issues and finally end the war," he added.

The Ukrainian leader has already said that a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, should take place to resolve the most difficult issues.

The talks, based on an American plan unveiled at the end of last year, are deadlocked primarily on the fate of the Donbas, the industrial region in eastern Ukraine that has been the epicentre of the fighting.

Russia is pushing for full control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, and has threatened to take it by force if Kyiv does not cave at the negotiating table.

But Ukraine has rejected the demand and signalled it would not sign a deal without security guarantees that deter Russia from invading again.

C.Fong--ThChM