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Steve Witkoff urged Vladimir Putin to resume trilateral peace talks on Ukraine

Călin Nicolescu

21 October 2026, 16:34

International

Foto Credit: Kommersant Photo Agency / Sipa USA / Profimedia

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, urged Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, to consider resuming direct trilateral talks between the United States, Russia and Ukraine. The discussion took place in St. Petersburg, following the meeting in Oslo between Witkoff, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders.

Witkoff described the meeting in Norway as productive and said it had created new diplomatic momentum. He presented Putin with documents outlining ideas for a possible peace agreement and proposed that technical teams discuss the next steps. Jared Kushner joined the meeting by phone to present additional U.S. proposals.

The Trump administration links ending the war to reviving Russian-American economic relations. Topics discussed included Russian exports of fertilizer and diesel fuel to the United States, as well as cooperation on Iran. Russia is due to send the first shipment of approximately 40,000 metric tons of diesel fuel on Thursday.

Putin also proposed discussing a possible meeting with Trump in China on the sidelines of the APEC summit. The meeting in St. Petersburg was preceded by the release of American national Stephen Hubbard, who had been detained in Russia.

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Context: The launch of a discussion framework in Oslo and American promises of “progress” to resume negotiations

Before Steve Witkoff spoke with Vladimir Putin, the American envoy was preparing for a new round of efforts following meetings in Oslo: Witkoff took part in discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, including Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, as well as representatives of the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Poland and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. Meanwhile, tensions between Trump and Zelenskyy emerged publicly, with Zelenskyy accusing him of pressuring Ukraine to capitulate, while EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas criticized Washington for allegedly favoring “advantageous” conditions for Russia.

Even before this stage, Witkoff and Jared Kushner said they had achieved “substantial progress” in reviving negotiations, following separate meetings in Moscow and Kyiv, which were also attended by representatives of France, the United Kingdom and Germany. The stated objective of the US administration was to resume the diplomatic process to stop the Russian invasion that began in February 2022, while Zelenskyy indicated that he was preparing the next steps, without ruling out the possibility that the war could continue into the following winter.