Amman Today

publish date 2026-02-18 09:00:00

02/18/2026 – 11:58

Zelensky: Moscow and Kiev still have different positions on key issues after the Geneva talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Wednesday that the positions of Ukraine and Russia are still different on central issues related to ending the war, after a US-brokered negotiating round in Geneva.

“We can conclude that some preliminary work has been accomplished, but at the present time the positions are still different, because the negotiations were not easy,” Zelensky said in a message to journalists, including journalists from Agence France-Presse, after the talks ended.

He added that “sensitive issues” unresolved in the talks include the fate of the occupied territories in eastern Ukraine and the future status of the Zaporizhya nuclear power plant controlled by Russian forces.

02/18/2026 – 11:54

Russian official: A woman was killed in a Ukrainian march attack

Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Russian Bryansk region, said on Wednesday that a woman resident of the border village of Alenikovo was killed in a drone strike launched by Ukraine on the region.

Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of this news, and there has been no comment yet from Ukraine.

The Bryansk region, bordering the Ukrainian regions of Chernihiv and Sumy, has been repeatedly bombed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

02/18/2026 – 11:18

Agency for a Russian minister: Foreign intelligence can view soldiers’ messages via Telegram

Interfax news agency quoted Russian Minister of Digital Development Maksut Chadaev on Wednesday as saying that foreign intelligence services could view messages sent by Russian soldiers in Ukraine using the Telegram application.

Russian forces present in Ukraine use the Telegram application, one of the most widely used messaging services in Russia, on a large scale, but it is under pressure from the authorities, who have imposed restrictions on it due to what they say is the application’s failure to delete extremist content.

The agency quoted Chadaev as saying, “There are many indications that foreign intelligence has access to the application’s correspondence and is using this data against the Russian army.”

02/18/2026 – 11:17

The Russian negotiator says that the discussions with Ukraine in Geneva were “difficult” but serious

Chief Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky confirmed that the discussions that took place with Ukraine and the United States in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday, in an effort to reach a settlement that would put an end to the war between Moscow and Kiev, were “difficult” but serious.

Russian official media quoted Medinsky as saying that the negotiations “were difficult, but professional. The next meeting will be held in the near future,” without providing additional details in this regard.

02/18/2026 – 10:56

The end of the Russian-Ukrainian negotiation session with American mediation in Geneva (Russian official media)

02/18/2026 – 10:56

Zelensky: Europe’s participation in talks with Russia is “necessary”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed on Wednesday that Europe’s participation in the negotiation process with Russia is vital to ensure the steadfastness of any agreements reached regarding stopping the war.

“We consider Europe’s participation in this process necessary for the successful implementation of fully workable agreements,” Zelensky said in a statement on social media on the second day of negotiations in Geneva between the Ukrainians, Russians and Americans. He confirmed that Ukrainian and American negotiators met on Tuesday with officials from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

02/18/2026 – 10:56

Zelensky describes the Geneva talks as difficult

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday described the talks with Russia mediated by the United States in Geneva as “difficult” and accused the Russian delegation of delaying them.

“Yesterday’s meetings were really difficult, and we can say that Russia is trying to prolong the negotiations that could have reached the final stage,” Zelensky said on social media after receiving a briefing from his team before the second day of talks.

02/18/2026 – 10:00

Russian Minister: Foreign intelligence is able to see soldiers’ messages via Telegram

The Interfax news agency quoted Russian Digital Development Minister Maksut Chadaev on Wednesday as saying that foreign intelligence services are able to see messages sent by Russian soldiers deployed in Ukraine who use the Telegram application.

Russian authorities have imposed restrictions on Telegram due to what they say is its failure to delete extremist content, amid speculation that the app will be banned completely later this year.

02/18/2026 – 09:41

The start of the second day of negotiations between Moscow, Kiev and Washington in Geneva (source from the Russian delegation)

The second round of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations sponsored by the United States began in Geneva on Wednesday, according to a source in the Moscow delegation, with the aim of ending the ongoing war between the two countries for four years.

The source told reporters, requesting that his name not be published, that “the closed meetings have begun.”

02/18/2026 – 09:25

Ukraine denounces the “scandal” of allowing Russians and Belarusians to participate under their flags in the 2026 Paralympic Games

Ukraine on Wednesday denounced the decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate under the flags of the two countries in the 2026 Paralympic Games in Milan-Cortina and to lift the ban imposed on Russia since the start of the war in 2022, describing the decision as a “scandal.” Ukrainian Sports Minister Matvey Bedny said on social media: “The decision of the Paralympic Games organizers to allow the killers and their accomplices to participate in the Paralympics under their national flags is both disappointing and scandalous.”

02/18/2026 – 08:35

Ukraine says that Russia launched a missile and 126 drones on its territory before the start of the second day of the Geneva negotiations

The Ukrainian Air Force said on Wednesday that the Russian army launched air attacks on its territory at night, ahead of the start of the second day of negotiations between the two countries in Geneva.

A Ukrainian Air Force statement said that Russian forces launched one ballistic missile and 126 drones, and that air defenses shot down 100 of these drones.

02/18/2026 – 07:11

02/18/2026 – 07:07

• Washington confirms that “important progress” has been made in the Geneva talks between Russia and Ukraine
• Zelensky says Trump is putting unjustified pressure on him
• Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine resume Wednesday

02/18/2026 – 07:05

Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine resume in Geneva amid American indications of progress

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators will resume a second round of talks in Geneva on Wednesday, at a time when the American envoy expressed optimism in his country’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine, the most violent in Europe since World War II.

These negotiations are the latest diplomatic attempt to stop the fighting that has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions, and destroyed much of eastern and southern Ukraine.

02/18/2026 – 06:56

02/18/2026 – 06:56

US envoy Witkoff says that “important progress” has been made in the Geneva talks between Russia and Ukraine

Talks between Ukraine and Russia led by Washington in Geneva to end the war in Ukraine have made “important progress,” US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Wednesday, as the two sides are scheduled to begin a second day of negotiations.

Witkoff wrote on the

02/18/2026 – 06:55

The dollar continues its gains amid focus on peace talks

The dollar continued its gains on Wednesday as geopolitical risks kept markets in a state of tension, with investors awaiting the minutes of the Federal Reserve meeting for indications of any possible interest rate cuts in the future.

The yen rose after data showed an improvement in the morale of manufacturers in Japan and with US President Donald Trump announcing the first batch of huge investments that Tokyo intends to pump into the United States.

02/18/2026 – 06:54

Zelensky says Trump is putting unjustified pressure on him

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his American counterpart, Donald Trump, is putting unjustified pressure on him in an attempt to reach a solution to the nearly four-year-old war between Kiev and Moscow.

Zelensky added during an interview with the American website Axios published on Tuesday that any plan that requires Ukraine to give up lands that Russia did not seize in the eastern Donbas region will be rejected by the Ukrainians if it is put to a referendum.

Zelensky described Trump’s repeated calls for Ukraine, and not Russia, to make concessions as part of negotiating a peace plan as “unfair.”

02/18/2026 – 06:54

Shuttle diplomacy… Will Witkoff and Kushner achieve success in the Geneva negotiations?

Even for an American president long known for his penchant for making deals, Donald Trump’s assignment of his favorite envoys to move between two rounds of negotiations – the first on the Iranian nuclear crisis and the second on Russia’s war in Ukraine – in a single day in Geneva left many in the foreign policy world scratching their heads.

Experts said that the shuttle diplomacy carried out on Tuesday by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, raised questions, not only about whether they exceeded their limits and capabilities, but also about the possibilities of their success in resolving either of the two crises.

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World News

Source 1 : https://www.france24.com/ar/أوروبا/20260218-مباشر-واشنطن-زيلينسكي-ويتكوف-ترامب-بوتين-حرب-محادثات-جنيف-دبلوماسية-روسيا-أوكرانيا

Source 2 : ألدستور