MOSCOW (Zark News) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed in principle to resume three-way talks with Ukraine and the United States aimed at ending the war, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said Wednesday, in what would be the first such negotiations since February.
Ushakov announced the move after Putin met U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff for nearly three hours at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg. “Our President informed Steve Witkoff that, in principle, Russia is ready to resume the trilateral talks around the 10th of November to discuss the main issue,” Ushakov said in the Kremlin’s official readout of the meeting. “This concerns the establishment of a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the end of the conflict.”
The agreement is narrower than a leaders’ summit. A U.S. official said Witkoff and Jared Kushner proposed a three-way meeting at the technical — negotiators’ — level, and that the format was accepted by Ukraine in Oslo on Tuesday and by Russia in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. Ushakov, answering questions on Russian state television, named Abu Dhabi as the possible venue, though the Kremlin’s written commentary set neither a firm date nor a venue.
Witkoff, in a post on X after the meeting, called his discussions in both capitals “constructive” and said they “will continue in the format of trilateral technical-level talks between the United States, Russia and Ukraine.” He added: “While there is still important work left to do, President Trump remains committed to seeing this war end and achieving a comprehensive, durable peace.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the opening but pressed for a faster timetable than Moscow proposed. Speaking as he returned to Kyiv from Norway, Zelensky said Ukraine supported holding the talks “as soon as possible,” adding: “They will do everything to ensure that the meeting takes place as early as possible, in November. I think no later than early November.” He said Kyiv backed “any proposals for a ceasefire, an end to the war, an energy ceasefire as well as humanitarian initiatives,” while cautioning that Russia had agreed to meetings before and then let them lapse.
Moscow attaches conditions and caveats
The Kremlin paired the announcement with familiar caveats. Ushakov said the new ideas Witkoff brought from the Oslo meeting “contained little of real value in the context of resolving the Ukrainian crisis,” though he later called them a step in the right direction. The Kremlin readout blamed Kyiv for derailing an earlier planned resumption, accusing Ukraine of large-scale strikes during Russia’s State Duma elections, and said Putin told Witkoff that Russian forces retain the strategic initiative.
Wednesday’s session was the ninth in-person meeting between Putin and Witkoff. Ushakov and presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev sat in on the Russian side; Kushner, unable to travel for health reasons, joined by video link, according to the Kremlin.
The three countries last met early this year — twice in Abu Dhabi and once in Geneva — with little progress beyond prisoner exchanges, as Moscow and Kyiv held to longstanding demands on territory and security. Neither side reported movement on those issues Wednesday. The opening also came as President Donald Trump publicly pressed Zelensky to reach a deal, telling reporters Tuesday: “We want Zelenskyy to make a deal.”
Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, said the talks suggested a shift in Moscow: “I think we may have entered a phase now where the Russians are also looking for opportunities for diplomacy.” If held, the round would restart a channel dormant for nine months, even as fighting continues.
Sources: Kremlin (Presidential Executive Office), Reuters, Associated Press, CNN.
