US, Ukraine discuss post-war reconstruction as Russia pummels grid
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Municipal workers remove debris next to damaged cars outside an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike on Feb 26.
PHOTO: REUTERS
GENEVA - Ukrainian and US officials met in Geneva for talks on post-war reconstruction on Feb 26 despite a deadlock in peace negotiations with Russia, which pounded infrastructure across Ukraine with drone and missile strikes overnight.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched 420 drones and 39 missiles in another night of attacks on energy and other critical infrastructure. Dozens of people were injured and damage was reported across eight regions, he said.
The talks in Geneva with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner began shortly after midday, said Mr Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s negotiating team.
Proceeding with the reconstruction of Ukraine after the destruction wrought by Russian aerial strikes and frontline combat has become a major element in broader talks on how to end the war, which entered its fifth year this week. Kyiv hopes to attract about US$800 billion (S$1.01 trillion) of public and private funds over the next 10 years to rebuild the country.
A resident removes broken window glass inside her apartment damaged by a Russian drone strike on Thursday, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine on Feb 26.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“We will thoroughly work through the prosperity package: mechanisms for economic support and recovery of Ukraine, instruments for attracting investment, and frameworks for long-term cooperation,” Mr Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, wrote on X.
He added that the teams would also discuss preparations for new trilateral talks with Russia and that Ukraine is “focused on practical solutions”.
Mr Zelensky said on Feb 25 he had spoken with Mr Trump and agreed that the next session of trilateral talks with Russia in March should lead to a meeting of the countries’ leaders to tackle the most sensitive outstanding issues.
“This is the only way to resolve all the complex and sensitive issues and finally end the war,” Mr Zelensky said after the call, which Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner also participated in.
The Ukrainian and US delegations arrived with a police escort at the Four Seasons Hotel on Lake Geneva.
Also on Feb 26 in Geneva, Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner are due to hold a third round of indirect talks over Iran’s nuclear programme with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, mediated by Oman.
Air raids
In recent months, Russia has focused its missile and drone strikes on Ukraine’s energy sector, destroying power plants and substations and plunging entire regions into prolonged blackouts.
In Kyiv, 62-year-old art teacher Larysa Fuzik said the international community needed to put more pressure on Russia as the aggressor.
“You know, even though four years of war have passed, every time the alarm sounds, I feel such fear, such coldness in my soul, such anxiety,” Ms Fuzik said. “I immediately get dressed and run to the metro.”
Moscow has denied intentionally targeting civilians during the war although its attacks have killed thousands of them since it invaded in February 2022.
Ukraine has also hit civilian targets in Russia, or Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine during the war, though on a far smaller scale.
“When the whole world demands Moscow to finally stop this senseless war, Putin bets on more terror, attacks, and aggression,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in the wake of the strikes, repeating calls for more sanctions on Russia and military support for Ukraine.
The latest assessment from the World Bank released on Feb 23 showed that rebuilding Ukraine’s economy will cost an estimated US$588 billion. The assessment is based on data from Feb 24, 2022 through Dec 31, 2025.
The US has been pressing Ukraine to find a way to end Europe's biggest conflict since World War II. But Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart in their positions.
Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met last week in Geneva for their third US-mediated meeting so far this year but failed to reach any breakthrough on key sticking points, including territory.
Russia says Ukraine must cede the final 20 per cent of the industrialised and heavily fortified eastern region of Donetsk that it still controls. Ukraine says it will not relinquish territory that thousands have died to defend. REUTERS
