Geneva, Switzerland , 17 February (H.S.): President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a stark admonition on Monday evening, February 16, 2026, alerting that Ukrainian intelligence had discerned preparations by Russia for fresh, large-scale assaults targeting the nation's beleaguered energy infrastructure, even as delegations from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States converged here for the pivotal third round of U.S.-orchestrated peace negotiations.

In his customary nightly video address, Zelenskyy underscored the imperative for all air defense apparatuses to be meticulously calibrated, decrying Moscow's propensity to exploit the waning rigors of winter to inflict maximal anguish upon Ukrainian civilians.

He posited that such perfidious escalations would inexorably complicate the path to any viable accord in the protracted conflict, now approaching its quadrennial mark.

These Geneva parleys, slated to unfold over Tuesday and Wednesday, February 17-18, 2026, mark a substantive escalation from antecedent sessions in Abu Dhabi, where preliminary prisoner exchanges transpired sans substantive territorial resolutions.

For the inaugural instance, deliberations pivot inexorably upon the war's most intractable conundrum: the disposition of Ukrainian territories presently under Russian suzerainty, encompassing swathes of the Donbas industrial bastion that Moscow insists Kyiv relinquish in toto.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov articulated Moscow's intent to broach an expansive tableau of exigencies, inclusive of these territorial imperatives and ancillary stipulations heretofore articulated by the Russian polity.

Spearheading the Ukrainian contingent is Rustem Umerov, erstwhile Defense Minister and head of the National Security and Defense Council, who affirmed via Telegram on Monday that his phalanx—encompassing security and humanitarian luminaries—had antecedentially alighted in Geneva, evincing anticipation for constructive labor and substantive conclaves.

Russia's deputation, helmed by Vladimir Medinsky, aide-de-camp to President Vladimir Putin and seasoned plenipotentiary from prior Istanbul sojourns, signals a prospective pivot from security-centric discourse to holistic geopolitical reckonings.

Umerov evinced resolve for a sustainable and enduring peace, whilst the Kremlin delegation prognosticates discourse on the so-called Anchorage formula, positing a frontline stasis and perpetuation of Russian dominion over Donbas.

Zelenskyy lambasted Russian tactics as incessantly metamorphic, amalgamating drones, missiles, and sundry armaments to necessitate especial aegis and succor from confederates, with a pointed invocation directed at the United States amid the colloquy.

Russia yields not to the allure of winter's terminal throes, coveting grievous excoriations upon Ukrainians, he expostulated, cautioning that augmented belligerence would vitiate diplomatic apertures.

Interior U.S.-mediated overtures in the UAE yielded modicum beyond captives' repatriation, juxtaposed against unremitting hostilities along a 1,250-kilometer front, replete with Russian barrages on energetics and Kyiv's ripostes via long-range drones.

As envoys convene beneath the aegis of U.S. auspices—against a purported June terminus promulgated by President Donald Trump—observers harbor tempered prognostications for breakthroughs, given the chasmic schism on sovereignty and security pacts.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar