Witkoff heads to St Petersburg for Putin talks after meeting Zelenskyy
The US envoy is due to carry proposals discussed in Oslo to Russia on Wednesday. A meeting involving Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy remains a proposal.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Wednesday, 21 October, after talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Oslo. The meeting is intended to bring proposals for ending the war in Ukraine to the Russian side, according to the BBC and POLITICO.
Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev will meet Witkoff at the airport and join the meeting with Putin, RTÉ reported. Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, will participate virtually, according to a US official cited by RTÉ.
Proposals from the Oslo talks
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said Witkoff would take proposals from the Oslo talks to Russia, POLITICO reported. Those proposals include the idea of direct talks among Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy. The three-way meeting is a possible next step; no agreement or date for it has been announced.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the Oslo talks as ‘positive’. Witkoff would share the ideas discussed there with Russia and see whether progress was possible, Rubio said, according to RTÉ. Witkoff met Zelenskyy and other officials in Norway before travelling to Russia.
The planned Putin meeting follows tensions between Washington and Kyiv. Trump had urged Zelenskyy to make a deal with Russia before the Oslo talks, as covered in NewsJaws’ earlier report on Trump’s call for a Ukraine-Russia deal. The new step is Witkoff’s scheduled discussion with Putin about proposals raised in Oslo.
US-Ukraine tensions over intelligence sharing
The BBC reported that Kyiv had previously accused Washington of withholding key intelligence, an accusation the US rejected. Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that US intelligence sharing on Russian missile attacks ‘works now’. His account provides context for the Oslo meeting as Washington seeks to discuss terms with both sides of the war.
Russia’s war continues while the diplomatic talks proceed. Russian drones killed two people near Kharkiv overnight, local officials said, according to RTÉ. Kyiv’s mayor reported that an airstrike hit an apartment building and transport infrastructure in the capital, causing fires. Local authorities also reported two people injured in a strike on a university in Kremenchuk.
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Sources and context
- US envoy Witkoff to arrive in Russia for talks with PutinRTÉ
- Steve Witkoff holds 'very productive' talks with Zelenskyy as Trump envoy is set to meet PutinThe Journal; attribution to AFP in accessible text
- US envoy Witkoff to meet Putin in Russia as Zelensky says intelligence sharing 'works now'BBC
- US to offer Putin face-to-face talks with Zelenskyy and TrumpPOLITICO Europe
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.