Land in focus at Geneva peace talks between Russia and Ukraine

Negotiators from Ukraine and Russia have gathered in Geneva on Tuesday for two days of US-mediated peace talks that will focus on the main sticking point of land, with US President Donald Trump pressing Kyiv to act fast to reach a deal.

Trump is pressuring the two sides to reach a deal to end Europe's biggest conflict since 1945, though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has complained that his country is facing the greatest pressure to make concessions.

The Kremlin said the Russian delegation would be led by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to President Vladimir Putin.

Kyiv's delegation will be led by Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine's national security and defence council, and Zelenskyy's chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov. Senior presidential aide Serhiy Kyslytsya will also be present.

Ahead of the talks, Russia carried out heavy airstrikes overnight across swathes of Ukraine, inflicting severe damage on the power network in the southern port city of Odesa, which Zelenskyy said left tens of thousands without heat and water.

Zelenskyy called for Kyiv's allies to increase pressure on Russia to reach a "real and just" peace deal via tougher sanctions and weapons supplies to Ukraine.

The Geneva round of talks comes just days before the fourth anniversary, on February 24, of the conflict. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions have fled their homes.

What will the talks entail?

In Geneva, military leaders from the three countries will discuss how ceasefire monitoring will work, and what's needed to implement it, sources have said.

During previous talks in Abu Dhabi, military leaders looked at how a demilitarized zone could be arranged and how everyone's militaries could talk to one another, they said.

"This time, the idea is to discuss a broader range of issues, including, in fact, the main ones. The main issues concern both the territories and everything else related to the demands we have put forward," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

But expectations for any breakthrough in the latest negotiations are low, with neither side apparently ready to budge from their positions on key territorial issues, despite the United States setting a June deadline for a settlement.

Russia is demanding that Ukraine cede the remaining 20 percent of the eastern region of Donetsk that Moscow has failed to control – something Kyiv refuses to agree to.

Trump described the Geneva meeting as "big talks."

"Ukraine better come to the table fast," he told reporters late Monday as he flew back to Washington from his home in Florida.

Russian strikes on Ukraine's power grid despite impending talks

Russian forces struck the power infrastructure in 12 Ukrainian regions, killing three energy workers and leaving tens of thousands of people without power and heat.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the overnight strikes, stating that "it was a combined strike, specially calculated to cause as much damage as possible to our energy sector," on X, calling for diplomacy to be backed by "justice and strength."

Deputy Energy Minister Artem Nekrasov said homes in five regions had suffered power cuts as a result of the strikes, and also reported disruptions to heating supply in Odesa and Sumy.

Power infrastructure supplying Ukraine's strategic Black Sea port city of Odesa suffered "incredibly serious" damage, said private energy company DTEK.

"Repairs will take a long time to restore the equipment to working order," the company said on social media.