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The Kremlin announced Wednesday that President Vladimir Putin had informed US special envoy Steve Witkoff of Russia’s readiness in principle to resume trilateral negotiations with Ukraine and the United States around November 10 with the primary focus on establishing a postwar security framework for both countries. Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters after the nearly three-hour meeting in St Petersburg that Putin conveyed this position directly to Witkoff and noted that President Donald Trump would welcome the move according to accounts distributed by Interfax and Reuters. Ushakov specified that the talks would center on building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict ends while adding that the US envoy had been briefed on the matter during the St Petersburg discussions.
Witkoff had met a day earlier in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky along with leaders from Norway and Finland as well as European and NATO representatives where a US official described the exchanges as constructive and involving new proposals on security guarantees and postwar planning according to a Reuters dispatch. Ushakov relayed that Witkoff highlighted some fresh approaches from Kyiv and its partners but assessed that they offered little of use toward resolving the crisis citing briefings reported across CNN and CNBC outlets. The Putin-Witkoff conversation additionally covered implementation of an October agreement on Russian diesel supplies to US and global markets plus diplomatic options regarding Iran where Putin stressed the value of engagement with Tehran as a strategic partner according to the aide’s remarks in a Firstpost compilation.
No trilateral talks have been held since February when the Kremlin suspended the process citing Ukrainian strikes on Russian cities during parliamentary elections as reported in the BBC article and subsequent Reuters follow-ups. Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 an event that has shaped more than four years of conflict with intermittent negotiation attempts that have so far failed to produce a settlement according to timelines maintained by the Associated Press. Ukrainian figures place Russian troop losses at over 1.57 million since then according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Trump who prioritised ending the war during his election campaign has deployed Witkoff for repeated engagements in the region as part of an intensified mediation push detailed in multiple Kyiv Post summaries.
Russia has shown no indication of departing from its established demands which include Ukraine yielding the Donbas region now mostly under Russian occupation along with major reductions to Ukrainian military capacity and a permanent bar on NATO membership a CNN review of the latest briefing concluded. Ushakov’s presentation framed the potential talks as addressing root causes of the conflict without referencing any softening of those positions. Zelensky has continued to stress the importance of territorial integrity and reliable security assurances in any agreement as he outlined in the Oslo meetings covered by RBC-Ukraine.
The St Petersburg session represented the ninth in-person encounter between Putin and Witkoff since the envoy assumed his role underscoring the sustained channel of communication under the current US administration according to Reuters tallies. AP News reported that the US-Ukraine relationship has come under strain with Trump waiving some Russia sanctions and pressing for a settlement that includes possible talks without Zelensky present. Reporting from TVP World indicated that Russia released a detained American citizen as a goodwill gesture in conjunction with the talks though the Kremlin did not explicitly link the two developments. Ushakov’s post-meeting comments also touched on prospects for restoring broader economic relations between Russia and the United States as an area of mutual interest.
