U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Wednesday, October 21, and present him with an updated proposal for ending the war in Ukraine. This was reported by UNN, citing an American official, Axios writes.
Details
President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, it was indicated, will join the meeting virtually.
"The White House hopes Putin will show greater willingness to compromise after Trump agreed to lift sanctions on the sale of Russian diesel fuel and took other steps approved by Moscow," the publication notes.
Witkoff will arrive in Russia after a day of talks in Oslo, Norway, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as the leaders of Norway and Finland and representatives of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, the EU, and NATO.
The plane carrying Trump's envoy Witkoff has arrived in St. Petersburg21.10.26, 09:29
On Tuesday, October 20, Zelenskyy said that the next step should be a trilateral meeting between him, Putin, and Trump — a format Russia has so far rejected.
The United States hopes the new proposal will "create a path to direct trilateral and broader multilateral negotiations," the American official said.
What was discussed in Oslo
The talks in Oslo focused on developing a joint proposal for a "framework agreement" to end the war, the publication writes.
The U.S. official said that Ukraine "offered new ideas and proposals, which were discussed in detail."
The official said that the parties had made "significant progress" and now had "strong working-level alignment" on the next steps.
Kushner "joined the meeting virtually and again insisted on Trump’s demand that Ukraine stop striking Russian oil refineries," a source familiar with the situation reports.
"Jared was very direct," the publication’s source said.
Zelenskyy said after the meeting that he was ready to stop strikes on Russian oil refineries if Moscow took corresponding steps, the publication notes.
Trump said on Tuesday that, in his opinion, "Russia would like this to be done," but expressed doubt that Zelenskyy wants to end the war.
"If he doesn’t do it, it will be very bad," Trump added. "We want Zelenskyy to make a deal… If they don’t make a deal, it will only get worse [for Ukraine]."