Russia Says It Is Ready to Resume Talks With Ukraine and the US to End the War

Russia is ready in principle to resume talks with the United States and Ukraine on ending the war, President Vladimir Putin's top aide Yuri Ushakov has said.

Ushakov was speaking after Putin met US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg. Their latest talks lasted about three hours.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and his European allies have been pressing Moscow for an immediate resumption of the talks suspended in February, and Ushakov said a new round could be held next month.

Russia has for months refused talks, believing it is winning on the battlefield, while Ukraine faces an acute shortage of interceptors against deadly Russian missile attacks, the report noted.

Before going to St Petersburg, Witkoff met Zelensky and the leaders of Norway and Finland in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, on Monday.

It is not clear what specific proposals Witkoff brought to Putin, but Zelensky said after the Oslo talks that strong security guarantees for Ukraine and energy ceasefire proposals had been discussed. Ushakov, however, described those ideas as not very useful.

Top officials from Russia, Ukraine and the US have held several rounds of talks aimed at ending the war that began in February 2022, when Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters after Wednesday's talks in St Petersburg, Ushakov suggested a new round could be held around 10 November in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

He stressed that the talks must focus on building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the end of the conflict.

A US official later said Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner had proposed at Tuesday's Oslo talks a trilateral meeting at technical level between the US, Russia and Ukraine. According to the official, the Ukrainians accepted it in Oslo and the Russians accepted it in St Petersburg.

Ushakov also told reporters that Putin reiterated to Witkoff that Russian troops were advancing everywhere across the vast front line and held a strategic initiative. Ukraine and its European allies dispute that claim, pointing to a virtual stalemate on the front.

Witkoff described the talks in Oslo and St Petersburg as constructive. Yet they were held amid a growing row between Ukraine and the US, so whether the next meeting will actually open a path to a ceasefire remains uncertain.