After Witkoff Meeting, Putin 'Ready To Resume' US-Led Peace Talks With Ukraine
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Russian President Vladimir Putin told US envoy Steve Witkoff that Moscow was willing to resume stalled, US-mediated peace talks with Ukraine, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said after the two met at Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, RFE/RL reported. “Our president informed Steve Witkoff that we are, in principle, ready to resume the mentioned talks,” Ushakov told reporters, adding these talks could take place in November “with the main topic of building security,” according to RFE/RL.
The Kremlin has repeatedly invoked security concerns and demands for a so-called security zone to justify its war against Ukraine, while using those arguments to press for territorial gains, RFE/RL reported. It was the ninth time Witkoff had visited Russia for talks with Putin. Witkoff, along with US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has served as a lead negotiator in efforts to settle the long-running conflict, RFE/RL said. Trump made ending Russia’s war against Ukraine a priority when he began his current term in January 2025, but Kyiv and Moscow remain far apart in their negotiating positions and talks have stalled, the outlet reported.
The Kremlin has offered no concessions, repeatedly rejecting calls for a cease-fire while continuing its strikes across Ukraine, RFE/RL reported. Its hard-line demands include full control over territory in the Donetsk region, which Russian forces have been unable to seize on the battlefield, RFE/RL said. France 24 reported that Putin said Russia is ready for talks on plans for a final deal with Ukraine rather than a truce.
Witkoff’s meeting with Putin on October 21 came a day after the US envoy flew to Oslo for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid increasingly strained relations between the Ukrainian and US administrations, RFE/RL reported. During the past two weeks, Trump has expressed doubts about Zelenskyy’s commitment to seeking peace in his country, while the Ukrainian president and Kyiv’s Western allies have warned the White House that a series of its moves could play into Putin’s hands and further fuel Moscow’s war effort, RFE/RL said. After speaking to Putin by phone earlier in the month, Trump announced a deal to encourage Russian diesel exports and waived sanctions that were due to be imposed under a law he signed last month, the outlet reported. Separately, disruptions to the Starshield satellite system, the military-grade version of the Starlink service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX on which Kyiv heavily relies to defend against Russian air strikes, left Ukraine particularly vulnerable last week, RFE/RL added.
Despite what appeared to be a significant setback in US-Ukraine relations, Zelenskyy said during his meeting with Witkoff in Norway on October 20 that Kyiv and Washington had “some clear ideas on how to get to peace,” according to RFE/RL.
The BBC reported that Kyiv was hit by another round of missile strikes hours after Russia agreed to resume peace talks, with Zelenskyy saying the three waves of missiles were launched by “Russian humanitarians” — a term Witkoff had used for Putin after the St Petersburg meeting. The BBC’s Dan Johnson reported from the scene of a destroyed retail park in Kyiv.