Representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the US are set to meet for a third round of trilateral negotiations to end the four-year war.

Ukrainian officials have left for Geneva, Switzerland, where another round of negotiations aimed at ending the war with Russia is set to take place.

“On the way to Geneva. The next round of negotiations is ahead. Along the way, we will discuss the lessons of our history with our colleagues, seek the right conclusions,” Ukraine’s Chief of Staff Kyrylo Budanov posted on his Telegram channel on Monday, along with a picture of him standing in front of a train with two other members of the delegation he is heading.

The Geneva talks follow two rounds of the United States-brokered negotiations held in the United Arab Emirates in January and early February.

The last meeting marked the first direct public talks between Moscow and Kyiv on a plan proposed by the Trump administration to end the conflict, which started with Russia invading its neighbouring country in February 2022.

Russia and Ukraine described both rounds of talks as constructive, but failed to achieve any breakthrough.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday said he hoped the trilateral talks in Geneva “will be serious, substantive” and “helpful for all of us”.

“But honestly, sometimes it feels like the sides are talking about completely different things,” Zelenskyy said. “The Americans often return to the topic of concessions, and too often those concessions are discussed only in the context of Ukraine, not Russia.”

Among the most contentious issues is the long-term fate of the eastern Ukrainian region, large parts of which Russia has occupied. Moscow is demanding that Kyiv pull its troops from the Donbas region, including heavily fortified cities that sit atop vast natural resources, as a condition for any deal. It also wants international recognition for the land it has unilaterally annexed in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv said the conflict should be frozen along the current front lines and has rejected a one-sided pullback of forces. Ukrainian officials are also demanding solid security guarantees against future Russian attacks.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, said people in the Russian capital do not seem to be too enthusiastic about the talks.

“The general public does not take this next round very seriously. The first two did not answer a lot of questions,” she said, referring to the territorial issues and the implementation of a ceasefire mechanism.

As both parties prepare for further negotiations, they are also ramping up military pressure.

Kyiv said it carried out a large-scale drone attack on energy infrastructure in western Russia on Sunday.

On Monday, the governor of the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, said Russian forces destroyed more than 220 drones. The strikes, which lasted more than 12 hours, were the heaviest since the start of the war, he said. Residents were temporarily left without heating.

Russian army chief General Valery Gerasimov said on Sunday his forces took control of 12 settlements in eastern Ukraine this month, an equivalent of 200sq km (77sq miles).

“The task of the military operation continues to be carried out. The offensive is under way in all directions,” Gerasimov said while visiting troops on the front line in the Ukrainian territory.

Two skiers were killed and another injured Sunday when an off-trail avalanche tore through a popular freeride route on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc massif near the French-Swiss border, officials said.

Three skiers were swept up in the Sunday morning slide along the Couloir Vesses, a well-known off-piste route in Courmayeur’s upper Val Veny, according to Italy’s Alpine Rescue, The Associated Press reported.

Search and rescue operations involved 15 rescuers, three canine units and two helicopters. One victim was transported to a hospital in serious condition but later died, the agency said.

Authorities said another person was partially buried in an avalanche in Trentino but was pulled to safety by companions.

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The deadly slide comes amid a particularly dangerous stretch in the Italian Alps. Italy’s Alpine Rescue said last week that 13 backcountry skiers, climbers and hikers died in the Italian mountains in the week ending Feb. 8 – a record toll – with 10 of those deaths caused by avalanches linked to an unusually unstable snowpack.

Officials said recent storms have dumped fresh snow onto fragile underlying layers, while strong winds have created unstable drifts, producing hazardous conditions across the Alpine arc bordering France, Switzerland and Austria.

The main issue is caused by “persistent weak layers in the snowy cloak, often covered by fresh snow or wind, conditions that make detachments unpredictable and easily triggered even by the passing of a single skier or alpinist,” the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps said. “The dangerous points are many and difficult to identify, even for an expert.”

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Federico Catania, a spokesperson for Italy’s Alpine Rescue Corps, said recent snowstorms have drawn visitors eager to take advantage of fresh slopes, “and as a result, the number of accidents, and therefore fatalities, has increased proportionally,” The AP reported.

Courmayeur, a town of roughly 2,900 residents, sits about 200 kilometers – or 124 miles – northwest of Milan, a host city for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

The incidents occurred as the Winter Olympics were kicking off in the region on Feb. 6.

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Authorities stressed that competition sites – located in Lombardy near the Swiss border, Cortina d’Ampezzo in Veneto and Val di Fiemme in Trentino – remain safe, well-maintained and closely monitored.

“There is no danger for people skiing within managed ski resorts, and, in particular, no risks to the Olympic sites,” Catania said previously. “All of these areas are constantly monitored and are generally safe regardless of Olympic events.”

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Prior to the start of the Winter Olympics, Vigili del Fuoco said crews would maintain safety measures for all visitors to the sites.

Fox News Digital’s Bonny Chu and The Associated Press contributed to this report.