MOSCOW (Dispatches) - Russia is ready to resume three-way negotiations with the U.S. and Ukraine to discuss security arrangements for when the conflict has ended, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov has said.
The announcement followed nearly three hours of talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff at Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. Jared Kushner joined by video link after illness prevented him from traveling.
Ushakov said Putin told Witkoff that Moscow was “in principle, ready to resume” trilateral negotiations in mid-November, with the main topic being a post-conflict security system for Russia and Ukraine. Witkoff indicated that Trump would welcome the proposal, the aide added.
The talks in St. Petersburg, the ninth time that Witkoff met Putin in person, began with a goodwill gesture from Russia — the release of a retired U.S. school teacher held in Russia.
The encounter comes amid concerns in Kyiv and among its allies that the United States is backing away from Ukraine, at times holding back real-time intelligence on Russian attacks and hobbling Ukraine’s military communications.
The latest talks came more than two years since U.S. President Donald Trump promised in his successful election campaign to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.
Witkoff flew into Russia after conducting what a U.S. official called “constructive” talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the leaders of Finland and Norway and European and NATO representatives, as President Donald Trump said it was time for Ukraine to end the war or face “a very bad thing.”
U.S.-Ukraine ties have deteriorated sharply since Trump announced a diesel export deal with Russia earlier this month to help lower prices in the United States. High fuel costs since he launched strikes on Iran have hurt his Republicans ahead of November legislative elections.
Since the diesel deal, Ukraine has complained of disruption to some intelligence sharing and to its use of the Starshield military satellite system, though Zelensky said that Tuesday’s Oslo meeting had reached an agreement to resolve those issues.