US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff yesterday urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to consider resuming US-mediated peace talks with Ukraine and to review new ideas on ending the war amid Washington’s latest push to stop Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.
The talks in a grand imperial palace in St Petersburg, the ninth time that Witkoff has met Putin in person, began with a goodwill gesture from Russia — the release of Stephen Hubbard, a retired US school teacher held in Russia.
Putin also offered to help US President Donald Trump in dealing with Iran, saying Russia had a decades-long relationship with Tehran, which it has repeatedly offered to leverage to address US concerns about Iran’s nuclear program.
Photo: Kristina Solovyova, Sputnik via Reuters
Russia could also supply large quantities of fertilizer to the US to help US farmers, the Russian president told Witkoff, saying he wanted to discuss a potential meeting in China next month with Trump, which the Kremlin has suggested could also include Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
The encounter comes amid concerns in Kyiv and among its allies that the US is backing away from Ukraine, at times holding back real-time intelligence on Russian attacks and hobbling Ukraine’s military communications.
The latest talks also come more than two years since Trump promised in his election campaign to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.
“One thing that I hope to accomplish today is to have some good conversation between us about the resumption potentially of trilateral talks between Ukraine and Russia and the United States,” Witkoff told Putin.
“Even if we don’t have a resolution today, if we just talk about and sort of consider what that next step might be I think that would be important and the world is waiting to hear that,” he said.
Witkoff flew into Russia’s second city a day after conducting talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the leaders of Finland and Norway and European and NATO representatives.
Witkoff said he would brief Putin on the Oslo talks which he described as productive and said had been characterized by “some degree of momentum.”
A US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Ukraine had brought new ideas and proposals to the Oslo talks, which had made “meaningful progress” toward a coordinated approach to engaging with Russia.
The official said the talks covered “key elements of a comprehensive peace framework,” including security guarantees for Ukraine, a postwar economic plan and a broader European security architecture.
Zelenskiy said he hoped to discuss key issues on how to end the war during a trilateral meeting with Putin and Trump.
The Kremlin has repeatedly said that any Putin-Zelenskiy meeting would need to be painstakingly prepared in advance by aides to make it worthwhile.
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