Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have both backed a United States proposal for three-way talks to end the war in Ukraine, as Washington intensifies its diplomatic push more than four and a half years after Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
The Kremlin said Putin conveyed his “in principle” willingness to resume negotiations during a three-hour meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg on Wednesday — their ninth face-to-face encounter. Zelenskyy, speaking to journalists via WhatsApp as he returned to Kyiv from Norway, confirmed Ukraine’s interest and said the meeting should take place no later than early November.
“We have received feedback that… Russia supports a trilateral meeting at the level of our [negotiating] teams,” Zelenskyy said, adding that the American side had proposed holding it as soon as possible. Kyiv supports “any proposals for a ceasefire, an end to the war, an energy ceasefire as well as humanitarian initiatives”, he said.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Witkoff briefed Putin on Tuesday’s Oslo talks with Ukrainian and European officials, though he noted there “wasn’t really much substance” in the approaches from Kyiv and the Europeans. He said the trilateral meeting could take place in mid-November, and later told Russian state television Vesti that Abu Dhabi was a possible venue. The last US-mediated peace talks were held in February.
The meeting at a grand imperial palace began with a goodwill gesture: the release of Stephen Hubbard, a retired US teacher held in Russia. Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, said Russia is keen to see sanctions lifted — US restrictions in particular — noting that the Trump administration is using economic leverage, including temporarily easing sanctions on Russian diesel sales, to push Moscow to end the war. Putin thanked Trump and Witkoff for their efforts.
Ukraine and Russia remain far apart on the terms of any deal, but Trump has stepped up pressure on Kyiv, saying on Tuesday that Ukraine must end the war or face “a very bad thing”. Putin offered to help Trump on Iran, citing Moscow’s decades-long relationship with Tehran, and proposed supplying fertiliser to US farmers. A possible meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping in China next month was also discussed.
The diplomatic push came a day after Witkoff met Zelenskyy and European leaders in Oslo, attended by the Norwegian and Finnish prime ministers plus EU and NATO representatives. Witkoff described those talks as productive, with “some degree of momentum”, and Zelenskyy said “very, very important” intelligence from the US had been restored. US-Ukraine ties have deteriorated sharply since Trump announced a diesel export deal with Russia earlier this month, and Zelenskyy has accused Washington of slowing Starshield, the military-grade version of SpaceX’s Starlink crucial for Ukraine’s battlefield operations.
Fighting continues. A Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and wounded two in Russia’s western Bryansk region on Wednesday, Governor Yegor Kovalchuk said, while Ukraine’s emergency service reported two people killed in a Russian strike on a high-rise building in the capital.
Original Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/21/witkoff-in-russia-for-putin-meeting-after-positive-talks-with-zelenskyy
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Publish Date: 2026-10-22 03:33:00
