Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization with the delegates from the WHO member states celebrate the approval of the pandemic accord at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, 20 May 2025. (Keystone/Magali Girardin)

Wide gaps on pandemic treaty annex cast doubt on May deadline, says health expert Suerie Moon. As a deadline looms to complete the pandemic treaty, health policy expert Suerie Moon says WHO negotiators need to battle out divides even if it means extending talks.

🕊️UKRAINE-RUSSIA TALKS IN GENEVA. Moscow and Kyiv are holding a second round of US-brokered peace negotiations in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday. They follow a first round early 2025 in Abu Dhabi that had been deemed constructive.

Geneva round. Another meeting involving US, European and Ukrainian officials was held last November in Geneva, bringing US state secretary Marco Rubio to the multilateral hub. The talks laid bare the US’s penchant for Moscow’s version of a peaceful resolution and shed light on the true architects of Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine.

Since then, Kyiv and its European allies have pushed for a revised version of the plan that excludes territorial concessions and other red lines.

Read our past coverage: The discreet clash in Geneva over a Russian-crafted peace plan for Ukraine

The return of Russia’s historian. Russia’s delegation will be led by Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky. Medinsky, Russia’s former culture minister and a historian by training, has unnerved his counterparts before with his history lessons that go as far back as the 1700s, developed at length to justify Russia’s negotiating positions.

But what worries Ukrainian officials most is Medinsky’s hawkish line. He has said at previous talks Russia is prepared to fight indefinitely and threatened to take more territory, suggesting Moscow’s position this week may be uncompromising. (Kyiv Independent)

The Abu Dhabi round had been led by Russia’s head of military intelligence, Igor Kostyukov, described by Ukrainian officials as more “constructive” (Kyiv Post).

Kyiv will send national security and defense council secretary Rustem Umerov, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff and former spy chief, Kyrylo Budanov, as well as other senior officials.

Tick-tock. The development comes less than 10 days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marks its fourth anniversary. With pressure from Washington to hold elections and a referendum on any peace deal by May, Zelenskyy will have little latitude to get a favourable agreement.

👔GAZA PLANS. Over in Washington, Trump will be pushing for peace on his own terms in another conflict. His Board of Peace unveiled in Davos last month is set to hold its first meeting on Thursday, where he is expected to reveal a multi-billion dollar reconstruction plan for Gaza and further details on the deployment of a UN authorised stabilisation force.

🛻DAVOS FOR TRUCKS. Some 20 to 30 ministers from Europe, Africa and other continents are expected in Geneva this week for the UN’s main regulatory body on road, rail and inland waterway transport.

Hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Europe, the Inland Transport Committee looks at technical standards and rules on issues ranging from road safety to handling chemicals. One issue on the agenda stands out in particular.

Taking charge. The committee will also discuss a strategy adopted two years ago to reach net-zero inland transport by 2050. Transportation represents 23 per cent of global greenhouse emission. Inland transport takes the largest portion, making up 72 per cent of overall transport emissions, while the rest is essentially flight and shipping.

Among the measures states can take is switching to electric cars, buses and ferries as well as improving train and waterway networks and infrastructure, which are far more eco-friendly alternatives to road transport.

Wrong way. The meeting comes as the US, also part of the committee, makes a U-turn. Last week the Trump administration announced it was rolling back Obama-era ruling that underpinned all federal action to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

— By Michelle Langrand