Ukraine-Russia battle newest: Kyiv’s forces make big features on battlefield forward of Geneva peace talks

Ukraine has sanctioned at least 10 Russian athletes who have actively supported Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The sanctions will apply to sports figures who visited occupied Ukrainian territories, publicly defended Russia’s invasion and occupation, raised funds for Russian forces, or organised events for Ukrainian children forcibly abducted by Russia, the presidential office said.

“This Ukrainian sanctions package should be a signal to others around the world – a signal that one cannot simply turn a blind eye to support for aggression,” Zelensky said.

“When Ukrainians at the Olympics are forbidden to even mention the victims of Russian aggression, that is clearly a global rollback of justice. We will restore justice,” he added.

Representatives of Ukraine and Russia ⁠are set to meet in Geneva in a few hours’ time for a fresh round of US-mediated peace talks that the Kremlin ⁠says are likely to focus on land, the main sticking point.

Russia is demanding that Ukraine cede the remaining 20 per cent of the eastern region of Donetsk that Moscow has failed to capture – something Kyiv refuses to ​do.

“This time, the idea is to discuss a broader range of issues, including, ⁠in fact, the main ones. The main issues concern ⁠both the territories and everything else related to the demands we have put forward,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on ⁠Monday.

The ‌venue has switched to the Swiss lakeside city after Abu Dhabi hosted two rounds of talks that both sides described as constructive but which failed to reach any major breakthrough.

Authorities in Poland have temporarily closed airports in Rzeszow and Lublin because of military aviation operations, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) said this morning.

Polish commanders said military aviation operations began in the country’s airspace due to strikes by Russia’s long-range air forces on Ukrainian territory.

Donald Trump is pressuring Ukraine to reach a deal with Russia ahead of the US-brokered talks in Geneva today.

“It’s easy… Ukraine better come to the table, fast,” the US president said, speaking to the reporters onboard Air Force One while en route to Washington.

Officials in Kyiv confirmed a Ukrainian delegation was heading to Geneva on Monday for another round of talks with Russian officials, ahead of next week’s fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Trump’s remarks did not call for action from the Russian side, which has been seeking Ukraine’s territory and political concessions from Kyiv without budging from its demands.

Moscow wants Ukraine to cede the entirety of the Donbas area, including areas it has failed to capture by force.

Ukrainian soldiers have been able to make dramatic battlefield gains in the war-hit country’s east after Russian troops lost access to Starlink satellite internet, a US-based think tank said.

Ukrainian forces managed to recapture 201 sq km (78 sq miles) from Russia between Wednesday and Sunday, equivalent to the Russian gains for the entire month of December, the ISW’s data showed.

This is the most land retaken by Kyiv’s forces in such a short period since a June 2023 counteroffensive. The territory secured by Ukraine is mostly to the east of Zaporizhzhia city, where Russian troops have made significant progress since mid-2025.

“These Ukrainian counterattacks are likely leveraging the recent block on Russian forces’ access to Starlink, which Russian milbloggers (military bloggers) have claimed is causing communications and command and control issues on the battlefield,” the ISW said.

Starlink internet terminals used by Russian troops in Ukraine were deactivated earlier this month, dealing what one official said was a big setback for Moscow that had disrupted assault operations.

Russian forces have made unauthorised use of thousands of satellite-based Starlink internet connections for secure communications since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kyiv says.

The Russian delegation has arrived in Geneva for today’s US-brokered peace talks on Ukraine, Russia’s news agency Interfax reported.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said the talks in Geneva will deal with a “broader range of issues related to the territories and other issues connected to the demands that we have” but didn’t elaborate on the issues.

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s adviser Vladimir Medinsky, who headed Moscow’s team of negotiators in the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in March 2022 and who has forcefully pushed Putin’s war goals, is returning to lead Moscow’s delegation.

Medinsky has written several history books that focus on exposing purported Western plots against Russia and denigrate Ukraine.

Igor Kostyukov, the head of Russian military intelligence, and deputy foreign minister Mikhail Galuzin, along with other officials, will also be in the delegation, Peskov said.

A fire has been reported at a Russian oil refinery in Krasnodar region, officials said this morning, shortly after it came under attack from Ukrainian drones.

Local authorities said the fire was reported from Ilsky refinery and a reservoir with oil products was damaged.

Just hours earlier, the Russian defence ministry said at least 24 drones were downed over the Krasnodar region.