Inside Ukraine's Peace Talks: What It's Really Like Negotiating with Russia

Over one million Russian casualties. Four years of full-scale war. And still, diplomats sit across tables trying to find a way to end it all.

As another round of US-mediated peace talks approaches in Geneva this week, Ukrainian negotiator Serhii Kyslytsia offers a rare glimpse into what it's actually like to negotiate with Russia over Ukraine's future. His account reveals a process far more complex—and surprisingly businesslike—than many might expect.

The Military Mind vs. Political Theater

"The military has a better understanding of what is going on in the battlefield," Kyslytsia told the BBC from Kyiv's presidential palace. Unlike other Russian officials prone to political grandstanding and historical lectures, military-to-military discussions tend to be refreshingly practical.

The real question, according to Kyslytsia, isn't whether Russian military officials understand the situation—it's whether they can report back to the Kremlin "without cooking or changing the information."

This matters enormously when you consider the battlefield reality these negotiators must somehow untangle. Eastern Ukraine has become a drone-dominated hellscape where 12,000 unmanned aircraft operate over a single city like Pokrovsk, while 200,000 Ukrainian civilians remain trapped in Donbas "fortress belt" cities.

America's Surprisingly Hands-On Role

Kyslytsia's praise for the US delegation feels genuine, not diplomatic courtesy. "We have to credit the Americans for their commitment and their patience," he says, "because they sit in the meetings non-stop. They don't only observe…they put questions and they listen to our answers."

The team includes NATO's top European commander General Alexus Grynkewich and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. Even more intriguingly, Kyslytsia speaks positively of Trump family involvement—calling Jared Kushner "not a novice" and describing billionaire envoy Steve Witkoff as "a much wiser person than the caricature image you see in the media."

The US role extends beyond mediation to potential enforcement. America's satellite and high-tech monitoring capabilities would be crucial for any ceasefire verification—a stark contrast to the previous monitoring setup.

Learning from Past Failures

For eight years before 2022, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) tried to monitor the conflict with laughably inadequate resources. "It was quite an achievement [for them] just to have two UAVs flying over the territory," Kyslytsia recalls. "It's kind of the Flintstones era compared to what we have today."

This technological evolution fundamentally changes what's possible in conflict monitoring and verification—but also what's required to maintain peace in an age of mass drone warfare.

The Human Element

How does someone sit across from representatives of a leader who's sacrificed over a million of his own soldiers? Kyslytsia, a former UN ambassador, has had years of practice.

One moment remains seared in his memory: February 23, 2022. During an emergency UN Security Council meeting about the Ukraine crisis, word came that his country was under attack. Kyslytsia desperately tried to get Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia to call Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for assurances that troops wouldn't invade.

Nebenzia's response was chillingly bureaucratic: "I've already said everything I know today. I'm not going to wake Minister Lavrov at this time."

Everyone's lives changed in that moment. The war that followed would reshape not just Ukraine and Russia, but the entire international order.

The One Phone Call

If delegations meet again in Geneva, Kyslytsia will be there, still working through ceasefire mechanics while waiting for the most crucial element to fall into place.

"The war could be stopped by just one call of one person to his military chief of staff," he said. "But apparently, the Kremlin dictator is not up to stopping the war for the time being."

This stark assessment cuts to the heart of the negotiation paradox: all the technical protocols, monitoring systems, and diplomatic frameworks in the world mean nothing without political will at the very top.