{"id":3971,"date":"2026-02-18T23:28:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/?p=3971"},"modified":"2026-02-18T23:28:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:28:30","slug":"u-s-brokered-russia-ukraine-peace-talks-cut-short-in-geneva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/?p=3971","title":{"rendered":"U.S.-Brokered Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks Cut Short in Geneva"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at <strong>Ukraine<\/strong> accusing <strong>Russia<\/strong> of stalling negotiations, the impeachment of <strong>Peruvian<\/strong> President Jos\u00e9 Jer\u00ed, and bold first moves by <strong>Japan<\/strong>\u2019s parliamentary supermajority.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3>No Breakthroughs<\/h3>\n<p>The second day of U.S.-brokered Russia-Ukraine peace talks ended abruptly on Wednesday after Kyiv accused Moscow of stalling negotiations. \u201cWe can state that Russia is trying to drag out negotiations that could already have reached the final stage,\u201d Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ZelenskyyUa\/status\/2024055270779846815?s=20\">wrote<\/a> on X, calling the first day of meetings in Geneva \u201cdifficult.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-nosnippet=\"\">\n<p>Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at <strong>Ukraine<\/strong> accusing <strong>Russia<\/strong> of stalling negotiations, the impeachment of <strong>Peruvian<\/strong> President Jos\u00e9 Jer\u00ed, and bold first moves by <strong>Japan<\/strong>\u2019s parliamentary supermajority.<\/p>\n<div class=\"newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode-fallback\">\n<h2 class=\"dek-heading\">\n                <\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/category\/world-brief\/\">Sign up<\/a>  to receive World Brief in your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<form data-shortcode-newsletter=\"world_brief\" class=\"newsletter-unit-signup newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode email-capture--step-1 newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode-world_brief\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-world_brief newsletter-shortcode-world_brief\">\n<div class=\"show-on-email-capture--signed-up hide-from-newsletter-subscriber newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode--container\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-unit newsletter-row\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-world_brief\">\n<h2 class=\"dek-heading\">Sign up to receive World Brief in your inbox every weekday.<\/h2>\n<p>\n                        <button class=\"button\">Sign Up<\/button>\n                    <\/p>\n<div class=\"grid--flex newsletter-world_brief newsletter-signup-container\" role=\"group\" aria-label=\"World Brief sign up form\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<div class=\"buttons\">\n<div class=\"hide-from-newsletter-subscriber privacy-policy-container\">\n<div class=\"privacy-policy-acknowledge\">\n<p><small>By submitting your email, you agree to the <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/privacy\/\" target=\"_blank\">Privacy Policy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/termsofuse\/\" target=\"_blank\">Terms of Use<\/a> and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.<\/small><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n    <label for=\"email-world_brief\">Enter your email<\/label><br \/>\n    <input type=\"email\" name=\"email\" class=\"hide-from-reg hide-from-sub\" id=\"email-world_brief\" aria-required=\"true\" required=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>    <button class=\"button button--signup \" data-newsletter-id=\"world_brief\" data-sourceid=\"In-article unit\" type=\"submit\"><br \/>\n      <span class=\"sign-up-text\">Sign Up<\/span><br \/>\n      <span class=\"loading-text\">Loading&#8230;<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button>\n  <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<hr\/>\n<h3>No Breakthroughs<\/h3>\n<p>The second day of U.S.-brokered Russia-Ukraine peace talks ended abruptly on Wednesday after Kyiv accused Moscow of stalling negotiations. \u201cWe can state that Russia is trying to drag out negotiations that could already have reached the final stage,\u201d Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ZelenskyyUa\/status\/2024055270779846815?s=20\">wrote<\/a> on X, calling the first day of meetings in Geneva \u201cdifficult.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although both sides agreed to meet again, their failure to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/aerospace-defense\/ukraine-russia-peace-talks-enter-second-day-geneva-with-pressure-kyiv-2026-02-18\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=Newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=Daily-Briefing&amp;utm_term=021826&amp;lctg=607f1056abd4f461f466319b\">provide a date<\/a> to do so makes it unlikely that significant progress will be made to end the conflict before it marks its four-year anniversary next Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>This was the third round of trilateral peace talks and the first in the Swiss city; two previous meetings in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, this year also failed to make a breakthrough. \u201cThis is complex work that requires alignment among all parties and sufficient time,\u201d lead Ukrainian negotiator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/ukraine-russia-war-us-talks-geneva-zelenskyy-says-putin-playing-for-time\/\">Rustem Umerov<\/a> said on Wednesday after talks in Geneva concluded roughly two hours in. Chief Russian delegate Vladimir Medinsky also described the conversations as \u201cdifficult, but business-like.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to one Ukrainian source who spoke to the BBC, some progress was made on \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c0k1xj0d708o\">military issues<\/a>\u201d\u2014namely, the location of the front line and questions concerning cease-fire monitoring. But the bulk of this week\u2019s negotiations largely centered on territorial control, with both sides accusing the other of demanding nonstarters.<\/p>\n<p>Moscow seeks the entirety of Ukraine\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/08\/21\/donbas-importance-putin-ukraine-russia-war-peace-negotiations\/\">eastern Donbas region<\/a>, including land that Russian forces do not control. Currently, Russian troops occupy roughly 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which they seized in 2014. However, since early 2024, Moscow has only <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/08\/18\/ukraine-war-battlefield-russia-donbas\/\">advanced<\/a> around 1.5 percent into Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Kyiv wants a deal that would freeze the conflict along present battlelines. On Tuesday, Zelensky told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/02\/17\/ukraine-russia-negotiations-zelensky-donbas\">Axios<\/a> that the Ukrainian people would not vote for a referendum that includes massive land concessions. \u201cEmotionally, people will never forgive this. Never,\u201d the Ukrainian president said. \u201cThey will not forgive \u2026 me. They will not forgive [the United States].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zelensky is also demanding that Kyiv and Washington jointly operate the Russian-occupied <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2023\/07\/18\/zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant-threat-russia-ukraine-war\/\">Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant<\/a>, Europe\u2019s largest nuclear facility. Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected all demands to relinquish its control.<\/p>\n<p>If Ukraine hopes to find a consistent ally in the United States to counter Russia\u2019s ambitions, then Kyiv may be out of luck. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly vacillated between criticizing Moscow and placing the onus of progress on Kyiv. Right now, his attention appears to be on the latter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUkraine better come to the table fast,\u201d Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2026\/02\/17\/us-negotiations-geneva-iran-nuclear-deal-russia-ukraine-war\/\">told<\/a> reporters on Monday, even as Russian forces <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2026\/02\/04\/russia-ukraine-energy-strikes-trilateral-peace-talks-putin-zelensky\/\">continue to target<\/a> Ukraine\u2019s energy infrastructure and <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2026\/02\/14\/russia-ukraine-peace-deal-lindsey-graham-munich-not-serious\/\">key members<\/a> of Trump\u2019s own Republican Party blame Putin for the war\u2019s continuation.<\/p>\n<p>Zelensky on Tuesday described Trump\u2019s apparent double standards as \u201cnot fair,\u201d adding that \u201cI hope it is just his tactics and not the decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3>Today\u2019s Most Read<\/h3>\n<hr\/>\n<h3>What We\u2019re Following<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Another impeachment. <\/strong>Peru\u2019s Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/china\/perus-congress-begins-debating-removal-president-jeri-2026-02-17\/\">voted<\/a> on Tuesday to impeach President <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/10\/17\/peru-protest-boluarte-impeachment-jeri-economy\/\">Jos\u00e9 Jer\u00ed<\/a>, making him the sixth Peruvian leader in the past 10 years to leave office before their term expired. Legislators planned to select a new leader on Wednesday who will hold power until general elections can be held on April 12. The winner of that vote will assume the presidency on July 28.<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/17\/world\/americas\/peru-president-jose-jeri-impeachment.html?campaign_id=9&amp;emc=edit_nn_20260218&amp;instance_id=171250&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;regi_id=159637444&amp;segment_id=215433&amp;user_id=3a92aa035d8e7d51a6ba63375b87c152\">passed<\/a> seven motions of impeachment on Tuesday, citing Jer\u00ed\u2019s failure to disclose meetings with Chinese businessmen who were under government scrutiny. Under Peruvian law, presidents must log all official business. During questioning last month, Jer\u00ed verified the authenticity of three videos that showed him entering a restaurant in Lima owned by wealthy Chinese businessman Yang Zhihua, but he refused to disclose his phone records, arguing that he was friends with Yang before becoming president.<\/p>\n<p>Political instability has long been a hallmark of <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2023\/01\/25\/peru-protests-political-crisis-castillo-boluarte-corruption\/\">modern Peruvian politics<\/a>. With Jer\u00ed\u2019s ouster, though, it is unclear who voters will elect to the role. Two conservative politicians are currently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-02-18\/peru-president-s-ouster-splits-right-wing-field-before-election\">neck and neck<\/a> in opinion polls: former Lima Mayor Rafael L\u00f3pez Aliaga and former Peruvian first lady Keiko Fujimori.<\/p>\n<p><strong>First steps toward reform. <\/strong>Sanae Takaichi was <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/japan-takaichi-us-china-trump-defense-aa82f8a3b5a7120575072f390f30fb97\">reappointed<\/a> as Japan\u2019s prime minister on Wednesday after her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secured a <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2026\/02\/09\/japan-snap-elections-results-sanae-takaichi-supermajority-ldp\/\">rare supermajority<\/a> in snap parliamentary elections this month. With the LDP now holding 316 out of 465 seats in Japan\u2019s lower house, Takaichi has a sweeping mandate to enact ambitious <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/10\/27\/trump-takaichi-japan-trade-china-asean-apec-xi-jinping\/\">defense and economic reforms<\/a>, including expediting the passage of the annual budget, without needing to negotiate with other parties.<\/p>\n<p>First on the agenda appears to be Japanese trade with the United States. Late Tuesday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/17\/business\/japan-trump-investments.html?campaign_id=9&amp;emc=edit_nn_20260218&amp;instance_id=171250&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;regi_id=159637444&amp;segment_id=215433&amp;user_id=3a92aa035d8e7d51a6ba63375b87c152\">announced<\/a> that Tokyo plans to invest $36 billion in three U.S. projects: a natural gas plant, a crude oil export facility, and a synthetic diamond manufacturing site. This is part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/?p=1201977&amp;preview=true&amp;preview_id=1201977#japan\">trade deal<\/a> agreed to in July, under which Japan vowed to invest $550 billion in U.S.-based projects. Japanese Trade Minister Ryosei Akazawa said on Wednesday that the three projects would \u201cpromote the economic and national security interests\u201d of both nations.<\/p>\n<p>Also on Wednesday, Takaichi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-02-18\/takaichi-formally-elected-pm-eyes-expedited-budget-deliberation\">confirmed<\/a> that the LDP will accelerate discussions to suspend a sales tax on food\u2014without issuing fresh debt. The prime minister hopes the measure will revitalize Japan\u2019s economy, which carries the <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/08\/06\/dollar-euro-currency-crisis-japan\/\">heaviest public debt burden<\/a> among high-income countries. However, that same day, the International Monetary Fund warned Tokyo against the move, citing estimates that borrowing costs on public debt are set to double.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bomb threat. <\/strong>The hard-left France Unbowed party <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/quentin-deranque-killing-france-far-left-far-right-political-tension\/\">evacuated<\/a> its Paris headquarters on Wednesday following a \u201cbomb threat,\u201d party coordinator Manuel Bompard <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mbompard\/status\/2024080010080907641\">announced<\/a>, adding that police were on site to investigate the incident.<\/p>\n<p>The reported threat comes just hours after the party was accused by far-right lawmakers of having some responsibility for the killing of Quentin Deranque, a 23-year-old far-right activist who was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/feb\/18\/france-arrests-over-killing-far-right-activist-quentin-deranque-lyon\">beaten to death<\/a> last week while on the sidelines of a protest against a university conference in Lyon, where France Unbowed lawmaker Rima Hassan was speaking. According to Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran, Deranque was \u201cthrown to the ground and beaten by at least six individuals.\u201d French authorities have already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/europe\/french-police-arrest-hard-left-members-over-killing-far-right-activist-2026-02-17\/\">detained<\/a> 11 people for questioning, including one France Unbowed parliamentary aide.<\/p>\n<p>France Unbowed leader <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/04\/25\/melenchon-french-left-politics-progressive-coalition-2027-election\/\">Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon<\/a> has denied any party involvement in the killing. Although he <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JLMelenchon\/status\/2023829504251089369?s=20\">said<\/a> that the party is \u201cfacing the most grotesque and most dangerous accusations against us,\u201d he called on \u201ceveryone to remain calm and composed. No escalation. Observe, learn, reflect.\u201d New polling on Tuesday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/marine-le-pen-eric-ciotti-far-right-major-victory-french-riviera-poll-shows\/\">showed<\/a> the far-right National Rally party on track to win a mayoral race in Nice next month, in what analysts are saying is an <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2024\/06\/26\/france-macron-bardella-rn-far-right-victory-mean-foreign-policy\/\">early indicator<\/a> of how the party will perform in France\u2019s 2027 presidential election.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3>Odds and Ends<\/h3>\n<p>Meet Orion, a robotic dog that India\u2019s Galgotias University presented as its own creation at this week\u2019s AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. After its unveiling, though, social media users <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/china\/india-tells-university-leave-ai-summit-after-presenting-chinese-robot-its-own-2026-02-18\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=Newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=Daily-Briefing&amp;utm_term=021826&amp;lctg=607f1056abd4f461f466319b\">identified<\/a> Orion as actually a Unitree Go2, a Chinese-made product commercially available for roughly $2,800\u2014reportedly prompting conference staff on Wednesday to order the university to vacate its stall. \u201cThis robot has turned the Modi government into a global laughingstock,\u201d the opposition Indian National Congress party <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/INCIndia\/status\/2024136831760031918\">posted<\/a> on X. Galgotias maintains that it never claimed to have developed the robot itself.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2026\/02\/18\/russia-ukraine-peace-talks-geneva-zelensky-putin-stalled-negotiations\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at Ukraine accusing Russia of stalling negotiations, the impeachment of Peruvian President Jos\u00e9 Jer\u00ed, and bold first moves by Japan\u2019s parliamentary supermajority. No Breakthroughs The second day of U.S.-brokered Russia-Ukraine peace talks ended abruptly on Wednesday after Kyiv accused Moscow of stalling negotiations. \u201cWe can state that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3971","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politcical-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}