Ukraine peace talks end abruptly

GENEVA, Feb 18 (Reuters): Peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Geneva ended abruptly on Wednesday after only two hours, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying that the discussions had been "difficult" and accusing Russia of deliberately seeking to delay progress toward a deal to end the four-year-old war.

The U.S.-mediated peace talks in Switzerland have been taking place as U.S. President Donald Trump has twice in recent days suggested it was up to Ukraine and Zelenskiy to take steps to ensure the talks were successful.

"Yesterday's meetings were indeed difficult, and we can state that Russia is trying to drag out negotiations that could already have reached the final stage," Zelenskiy wrote on X on Wednesday, following media reports that the first day of talks had been tense.

Minutes after Zelenskiy's comments, Russia's state news agency RIA reported that the talks had ended. Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky told reporters in the lobby of the hotel where talks took place in Geneva that further negotiations would be held soon, without specifying a date.

A Ukrainian official confirmed that the talks in Geneva had ended, saying that they had lasted "around two hours".

In an interview with U.S. website Axios published on Tuesday, Zelenskiy was quoted as saying that it was "not fair" Trump kept publicly calling on Ukraine, not Russia, to make concessions in negotiating terms for a peace plan.

Zelenskiy also said any plan requiring Ukraine to give up territory that Russia had not captured in the eastern Donbas region would be rejected by Ukrainians if put to a referendum.

"I hope it is just his tactics and not the decision," Axios quoted Zelenskiy as saying in the interview.

Trump had told reporters on Monday that "Ukraine better come to the table fast. That's all I'm telling you."

The talks came just days before the fourth anniversary of Russia's 2022 invasion of its much smaller neighbour. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, millions have fled their homes, and many Ukrainian cities, towns and villages have been devastated by the conflict.

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians. The head of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustem Umerov, said Tuesday's talks had focused on "practical issues and the mechanics of possible decisions," without providing details.

However, Russian news agencies quoted a source as saying that the Tuesday talks were "very tense" and lasted six hours in different bilateral and trilateral formats.

Ukrainian government bonds fell as much as 1.9 cents on the dollar in morning trade in Europe on reports of stalled progress at the talks.

Before the talks began, Umerov had played down hopes for a significant step forward in Geneva, saying the Ukrainian delegation was working "without excessive expectations".

The Geneva meeting follows two rounds of U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi that concluded without a major breakthrough as the two sides remained far apart on key issues such as the control of territory in eastern Ukraine.