U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff Meets Putin to Discuss Resuming Ukraine Peace Talks

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg to discuss a proposal for three-way negotiations involving Ukraine.

Following two days of diplomacy in Oslo and St. Petersburg, Russia has signaled a willingness to resume technical-level discussions with Ukraine and the U.S. next month. Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy aide to President Putin, indicated that talks could resume after November 10 in Abu Dhabi. According to the BBC, however, Ushakov was unimpressed by the "new approaches" from Europe and Kyiv presented by Witkoff, stating there was little useful information for resolving the crisis.

While President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed support for a three-way meeting at the negotiator level by early November, experts remain skeptical about a direct encounter between the heads of state. France 24 reported that analysts believe a face-to-face meeting with Zelensky is the last thing Putin would be prepared to do unless it occurred in Moscow. Deutsche Welle noted that the Kremlin maintains that any agreement must account for Russian interests and territorial concessions from Ukraine.

Moscow is also exploring a separate summit format involving the U.S., Russia, and China. Putin reportedly shared thoughts with Witkoff regarding a potential meeting with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen. According to Deutsche Welle, this format would exclude Ukraine and the European Union, which the Kremlin reportedly views as a potential "new Yalta Conference" to discuss a post-war order on terms favorable to Russia.

In a post on X, Witkoff acknowledged that "important work" remains but stated that Trump is committed to ending the conflict. The BBC reported that the U.S. administration has recently paused some sanctions and agreed to purchase Russian diesel, which has eased pressure on the Kremlin. Despite these diplomatic moves, the BBC noted that Ukraine's air defenses are under severe strain as winter approaches, potentially giving Russia less incentive to end the fighting.

Background

The U.S. diplomatic effort follows a meeting in Oslo where President Zelensky met with Witkoff and European representatives to float the idea of a leaders-level summit. These efforts include recent U.S. concessions such as the temporary easing of certain sanctions and deals involving Russian diesel exports to draw Moscow back to negotiations.