Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky hits back at ‘unfair’ Trump pressure during tense peace talks in Geneva

German Armed Forces have said they will seek battle-hardened Ukrainian soldiers to train their troops in drone operations and defensive tactics.

A spokesperson for the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, confirmed that an agreement has been signed last week between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and German defence minister Boris Pistorius to send Ukraine troops to German military schools, reported Der Spiegel.

German officials are trusting Ukraine’s hard-earned experience in drone warfare, counter-drone tactics, and rapid deployment of modern command technologies into frontline units.

The Ukrainian troops are expected to travel to Germany soon and will focus on infantry training.

“No one in Nato currently has more war experience than Ukraine, and we must take advantage of that,” an unnamed German officer told Der Spiegel.

Details on the timing and duration of the training were not immediately clear.

German officials also believe their troops could learn from Ukraine’s experience with modern command-and-control systems.

“In a very short time, [Ukraine’s] armed forces developed relatively simple systems for planning combat operations and managing their own units, most of which can be operated via apps on standard mobile phones,” Der Spiegel wrote.

The US-mediated talks in Geneva with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were “tense” but are set to continue on Wednesday, Russian news agencies quoted a source as saying yesterday.

“(The talks) were very tense,” the source told the agencies. “They lasted six hours. They agreed to continue tomorrow.”

The source said the talks took place in a combination of different bilateral and trilateral formats.

Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine has managed to bring back 2,000 children from Russian-controlled territory as part of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative.

“Today we have an important result – 2,000 Ukrainian children who were successfully returned home from Russian control as part of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative,” Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian president thanked government officials, civil society groups and international partners for their role in securing each child’s return, but added that the effort is far from over.

“We still have a long and difficult road ahead of us. Thousands of Ukrainian children still remain hostages of Russia, becoming victims of its crimes every day,” he said.

Ukrainian drones hit the Taman oil terminal in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region and a chemicals plant in the Perm region near the Ural mountains overnight, Ukraine’s SBU domestic security service said on Tuesday.

Kyiv has stepped up long-range strikes on strategic Russian targets, particularly oil facilities, that have fuelled Moscow’s war machine during the four-year-long war.

An SBU official said the attack on the Taman terminal was the agency’s second on the facility since 22 January. Ukraine’s General Staff had separately reported striking the terminal on Sunday.

SBU drones also attacked the Metafrax Chemicals plant in the Perm region, some 1,600km from Ukraine, a facility the official described as one of the biggest methanol producers in Russia and Europe.

Ukrainian drones have struck nine oil refineries across Russia since the start of the year, the commander of Kyiv’s drone forces said.

In a statement released on Telegram as Ukrainian and Russian negotiators sat for their latest peace talks in Geneva, Robert Brovdi said the refineries were among 240 facilities in Russia and Russian-occupied territory hit by Ukrainian forces.

Some 2,000 Ukrainian children have been taken home from under Russia’s control, President Zelensky has announced.

The returns were organised by the Bring Kids Back UA initiative.

“The road ahead remains long and difficult. Thousands of Ukrainian children are still held captive by Russia, becoming victims of its crimes every day. But we will not stop until every Ukrainian child is back home,” he posted.

Volodymyr Zelensky said US president Donald Trump was exerting pressure on Ukraine to reach a ceasefire resolution, and not Russia.

Speaking to Axios, Zelensky said it was “not fair” that the US president kept publicly calling on Ukraine and not Russia to make concessions in the ongoing negotiations for a peace plan.

“I hope it is just his tactics and not the decision,” Zelensky said in an interview conducted as Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators held talks in Geneva.

Zelensky added that 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.

On Monday, Trump issued a call for Ukraine to end the war, claiming it was up to the war-hit nation to reach a conclusion.

“Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you,” Trump said on Air Force One.

Ukraine’s lead negotiator in the Swiss talks, Rustem Umerov, head of the National Security and Defence Council, said that Tuesday’s talks had focused on “practical issues and the mechanics of possible decisions”.

He said negotiations would resume on Wednesday.

Delegations from several European countries were present in Geneva, according to four sources, but did not attend the trilateral peace talks themselves.

The Europeans were invited after Zelensky asked US officials to include them, one of the sources said.

The Geneva round comes just days before the fourth anniversary, on 24 February, of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

Russia occupies about a fifth of Ukraine’s national territory, including Crimea and parts of the eastern Donbas.