Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Wednesday to resume three-way negotiations next month, Washington and Kyiv aim to end the war in Ukrainea Kremlin official said, potentially setting up the first such negotiations since February.
The Russian leader agreed “in principle” to resume negotiations after November 10, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters after a meeting in St. Petersburg between Putin and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.
The talks will focus on “building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the end of the conflict,” Ushakov said.
Witkoff’s talks with Putin over Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine came as US President Donald Trump pushed Kyiv to reach an agreement that ends the fighting.
AP AUDIO: Putin agrees to resume three-way talks on Ukraine war with kyiv and Washington, Kremlin says
According to AP correspondent Ben Thomas, despite an apparent rift between the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents, talks aimed at ending the war in Russia have resumed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisted that only a summit of leaders could break the deadlock. The two armies remain locked on the battlefield and the countries hit each other daily with long-range strikes.
Representatives from the three countries held three rounds of negotiations earlier this year, meeting twice in Abu Dhabi in January and February, followed by further discussions in Geneva in February.
However, little progress reported beyond the exchanges of prisoners of war while Moscow and Kyiv remained faithful to their long-standing fundamental demands.
Latest proposals to end war have little value, Kremlin says
The discussion in St. Petersburg lasted about three hours, the Kremlin said, and took place a day later Witkoff met with Zelenskyy and some European leaders in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.
The proposals emerging from the Oslo meeting “contained little real value in the context of resolving the Ukrainian crisis,” Ushakov said.
However, he later told Russian state television that while Moscow was not “entirely satisfied” with Oslo’s proposals, they were a step in the right direction.
Witkoff meetings suggest leaders want to bring new impetus to United States-led peace effortsmore than 4 and a half years after the start of the war. Efforts by the Trump administration since early last year to end the war have resulted in no significant progress.
Zelensky said freezing the conflict in Ukraine was the “minimum” required of Russia to end the war.
“At the moment we have to freeze, and I think that is (the) real way to end this war,” Zelensky said in an interview broadcast Wednesday on Fox News.
Witkoff sees ‘some momentum’ in peace efforts
Witkoff and Putin met at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, with Ushakov and Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev also at the table. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, joined the discussion via video link, Ushakov said.
Before the meeting, Witkoff said there was “a degree of momentum” in the talks.
During the meeting, Witkoff and Kushner proposed a three-way meeting with the United States, Russia and Ukraine at the technical level and shared progress in their negotiations with Zelensky the day before, according to a U.S. official close to the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.
Witkoff and Kushner also discussed the postwar economic plan, European security and plans for the next meeting, the official said.
In his televised opening speech, Witkoff thanked Putin for agreeing to send diesel to the United States, after Trump. lifted a ban despite anger of some American legislatorsadding that the fuel would help lower prices for American farmers and truckers.
Putin said he was ready to examine prospects for restoring economic ties between the United States and Russia and was ready to discuss the U.S.-led project. conflict with Iran. Moscow is ready to use its relationship with Tehran to help bring peace, he said.
Ushakov said that “large-scale joint economic projects offering significant prospects for cooperation” between Russia and the United States were discussed in detail with Witkoff.
“Some of them are actually almost at the implementation stage,” he said.
Furthermore, Russia on Wednesday released a retired American teacher who had been imprisoned for fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. Witkoff said it appeared to be a goodwill gesture from the Kremlin after Trump asked Putin to release Stephen Hubbard.
Putin also met Wednesday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who was in St. Petersburg for talks with other Russian officials, the Kremlin said.
Russia has cultivated its ties with Chinaand both countries last month vetoed an American proposal for UN experts to continue monitoring sanctions against Iran.
Putin and Witkoff also discussed a possible meeting next month between the leaders of Russia, China and the United States at an economic summit in China, Ushakov said, adding that Beijing was already preparing for it.
Norwegian Prime Minister considers possible ‘new phase’ in negotiations
After his trip to Russia, Witkoff returned for further consultations in Oslo, where he met with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre at the airport before returning to the United States. The meeting lasted just over an hour, Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported.
“I think we may have entered a phase where the Russians are also looking for diplomatic opportunities,” Støre told the TV station. He said further negotiations would likely take place in mid-November.
Asked whether Zelensky could accept a border running along the current front line, Støre replied: “I don’t think Ukraine will formally accept it and say that this is the new border. But whether they can live with it is another question.”
Zelensky was still in Oslo on Wednesday, where he visited the Norwegian parliament and met with lawmakers.
Zelensky said talks in Oslo and St. Petersburg included discussions on the future security guarantees for Ukraine, the fate of occupied territoriespost-war reconstruction and the possibility of a ceasefire.
Trump urges Zelensky to compromise
At the White House on Tuesday, Trump increased pressure on Zelensky to reach a deal with Russia as relations between the two leaders deteriorated. still sour.
“We want Zelensky to make a deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We gave a lot to Ukraine. We received absolutely nothing in return except grief, death and huge monetary losses.”
If that doesn’t happen, “I think it will be a very bad thing,” Trump said.
Amid fears that Washington was turning its back on Ukraine, Zelensky said kyiv was once again receiving early warnings from its partners about the arrival of Russian missiles, after recent strikes that he said occurred without sufficient warning from allies.
Russian attacks kill 5, injure at least 23 others, Ukraine says
Nighttime Russian attacks in kyiv left three people dead and 12 injured, while ten residential buildings were damaged, the city’s military administration said.
Energy facilities were targeted in kyiv and three other cities in Russian attacks on Wednesday morning, Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said. Outside the eastern city of Kharkiv, two people died and 11 others were injured when drones exploded in a residential area, it said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that overnight its forces struck at sea a warehouse, an electrical substation and a bulk carrier heading to the Ukrainian port of Odessa.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported Wednesday that its air defenses intercepted 373 Ukrainian drones overnight over several Russian regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula and Black Sea.
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