A new round of US-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine is set for Geneva next week

Another round of between envoys from Russia and Ukraine will take place next week in Geneva, days ahead of the fourth anniversary of the , officials in Moscow and Kyiv said on Friday.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy鈥檚 communications adviser, Dmytro Lytvyn, confirmed the new round of negotiations.

The talks take place against a backdrop of continued fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) , relentless Russian of Ukraine and the country鈥檚 , and Kyiv鈥檚 almost daily on war-related assets on Russian soil.

Previous U.S.-led efforts to find consensus on ending the war, most recently , the capital of the United Arab Emirates, have failed to resolve difficult issues, such as the future of Ukraine鈥檚 Donbas industrial heartland that is largely occupied by Russian forces.

Zelenskyy said last week that the United States has given Ukraine and Russia a to reach a deal. Previous deadlines given by U.S. President Donald Trump have passed largely without consequence.

Zelenskyy in Munich

Zelenskyy was in Munich, Germany, on Friday and visited the first joint Ukrainian-German company for the production of drones. Germany has been a major backer of Ukraine in the war.

He was also due to hold bilateral and multilateral meetings at the , an annual gathering of top international security figures.

Russia鈥檚 bigger army has managed to capture about 20% of Ukraine since hostilities began in 2014 and its full-scale invasion of Feb. 24 2022. Its battlefield progress has been slow and costly in terms of troops and armor.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that 鈥渢he Russians are not winning (the war) as some are thinking.鈥�

鈥淭his so-called Russian bear is not there,鈥� he told reporters. 鈥淚t is basically still the speed of a garden snail, what we are seeing in Ukraine 鈥� this is how the Russians are moving inside Ukraine, very slow, staggering losses.鈥�

Finding compromises is hard

The negotiators heading to Geneva have the tough task of finding compromises that are palatable to both Moscow and Kyiv.

Russian President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 adviser Vladimir Medinsky, who headed Moscow鈥檚 team of negotiators in the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in March 2022, is returning to lead Moscow鈥檚 delegation.

The previous two rounds of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi reportedly focused on military issues, such as a possible buffer zone and ceasefire monitoring. The return of Medinsky, who has pushed Russian President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 maximalist conditions for peace, could mark a shift toward political issues in the next round of talks.

Ukraine鈥檚 delegation will again be led by Rustem Umerov, Ukraine鈥檚 National Security and Defense Council chief.

It was not clear which American officials would be in Geneva. In the UAE capital, the Trump administration was represented by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

War of attrition

The grim war of attrition is continuing while the two sides negotiate.

Overnight from Thursday to Friday, a Russian strike killed three brothers between 8 and 19 years of age in eastern Ukraine, authorities said. Their mother and grandmother survived but sustained multiple injuries, the Donetsk regional prosecutor鈥檚 office said.

In Odesa, one person was killed and six more injured in a Russian strike at the city鈥檚 port and energy infrastructure, officials said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday its air defenses shot down 58 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions and annexed Crimea during the night.

Of those, 43 were brought down in the Volgograd region of southwestern Russia, where three people, including a 12-year-old boy, were injured by drone debris, according to the local governor. Ukraine has recently targeted the Volgograd oil refinery.

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