India, Feb. 19 -- The latest US-brokered talks between Russian and Ukrainian envoys over Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine ended on Wednesday with no sign of a breakthrough and with both sides saying the talks were "difficult" as the war's fourth anniversary approaches next week. The negotiations in Switzerland were the third round of direct talks organised by the US, after meetings earlier this year in Abu Dhabi that officials described as constructive but which also yielded no major progress.

The head of the Russian delegation, Russian President Vladimir Putin's adviser Vladimir Medinsky, told reporters that the two days of talks in Geneva "were difficult but businesslike." He said another round of talks will be held "in the near fu...