Russia-Ukraine peace talks end after two hours
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Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 16 hours GMT on Wednesday the 18th of February. Progress at Ukraine peace talks but territorial claims by Russia remain an obstacle. Why the chikungunya virus could be spreading in Europe. And the first ever YouTube video page is saved for posterity. Also in the podcast... Lots of different skills. You have to be a really good, competent downhill skier. You have to be really competent on the mountain terrain. You have to be incredibly fit to almost, you know, hill runner type fitness to get up the steep. The new Olympic sport of SkiMo makes its debut on Thursday. So what is it? The latest round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, which ended today, have been described as difficult.
But Ukraine and the US say progress has been made, particularly between military negotiators. Russia described the meetings in Geneva as businesslike, and the Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umarov had this update.
Security parameters and mechanisms for implementing possible decisions were discussed. A number of issues were clarified, while others remain under additional coordination. We are focused on working through the key provisions required to finalize the process. This is complex work that requires alignment among all parties and sufficient time. There is progress, but no details can be disclosed at this stage.
The two sides say they will hold further talks when they're both ready. The main sticking point still seems to be land, with Russia continuing to claim the whole of the eastern Donbass region and Ukraine refusing to hand over any more territory. The Ukrainians are worried the Americans will try to force them to make concessions in order to secure an agreement with Russia, saying Vladimir Putin has previously offered the Americans $12 trillion worth of deals once the war is over. Our diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams is in Kiev. So after two days of talks in Geneva, what's been achieved? You get the impression that in some ways things are moving forward. That was the message after the previous round in Abu Dhabi when Ukrainian officials were emphasising that in terms of the sort of military to military conversations, progress was being made.
And you get exactly the same impression now, that when the two militaries get together and talk about the mechanics of figuring out the line of contact, how a ceasefire might be implemented and so forth, then there is genuine progress. But, of course, none of that really amounts to anything until there's a political commitment by both sides to do a deal. And at the moment, the Ukrainian view is that we simply haven't seen that from Vladimir Putin yet. and that he remains, as he has been all along, committed to a version of a peace with Ukraine, which essentially amounts to Ukraine's capitulation. I think the mood was summed up quite well by a Ukrainian official who was in Geneva, who was asked about how the talks had gone and said they were difficult, but they were productive unless you have super hyped expectations.
I think that pretty much sums it up. super hyped expectations that the fighting might stop. So I guess the fighting is going to continue until something changes. Yes. And of course, there nothing much does change because that contact line has been changing very, very, very slowly.
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