(AFP) – Russia is open to resuming trilateral talks with Washington and Kyiv towards ending the Ukraine war, the Kremlin said after Vladimir Putin met US special envoy Steve Witkoff Wednesday. However, Moscow decried little “substance” in new Ukrainian and European approaches. The Kremlin also announced that a summit between Putin, US President Donald Trump, and China’s Xi Jinping is being prepared in China’s Shenzhen for next month, calling it “the first such meeting in history.”
Putin held over three hours of talks with Witkoff in his home city of Saint Petersburg, a day after what the US official described as a “productive” meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky in Norway. As Witkoff arrived in Russia, Moscow freed a US citizen, Stephen Hubbard, and announced it would soon begin diesel shipments to America. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner also participated in the talks with Putin remotely.
Over a year of US-led attempts to end the Ukraine war—initiated by Moscow in 2022—have not resulted in a breakthrough, resulting in tens of thousands of casualties. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, including AFP, that Witkoff briefed Putin on “some new aspects in the approaches of the Europeans and Kyiv” from the Oslo meeting, but added that “there wasn’t really much substance in them.” Putin has consistently rejected face-to-face talks with Zelensky and insisted that Moscow intends to seize the rest of eastern Ukraine.
Ushakov indicated that a “first ever” China-US-Russia meeting was “being prepared” in China, although he did not specify what topics the leaders would discuss. Kyiv and its European allies have expressed concerns that the White House may strike a deal without their input. “I always said that we are open to negotiate in any format, any topics. But don’t speak about us without us, please,” Zelensky told US media Fox News on Wednesday.
Witkoff held his ninth meeting with Putin while Russia continued to assault Ukrainian cities ahead of winter, amid ongoing tensions between Trump and Zelensky. “We’ve brought some papers. It’s really some ideas, some sort of peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, and you’ll read that at your leisure,” Witkoff told Putin in Saint Petersburg’s Konstantinovsky Palace before the talks began. The US envoy expressed his desire for trilateral talks to resume, which the Kremlin later confirmed their agreement to.
Ushakov stated that the talks would re-open in mid-November and that the Kremlin intended for them to focus on post-war security. As Witkoff arrived in Saint Petersburg, Kyiv reported that Russian strikes had killed at least four people, including two in the capital and an elderly couple in the eastern Kharkiv region. Meanwhile, Russian occupation authorities in the Lugansk region reported that a Ukrainian drone strike on a phone company had resulted in two casualties.
Witkoff informed Putin that he perceived “some degree of momentum” in the US-led talks following his meeting with Zelensky. The Ukrainian leader, who remained in Norway for discussions with Nordic political leaders, indicated he was awaiting news regarding whether the American side would gain any new insights from Russia that day. The Witkoff-Zelensky meeting occurred after days of friction between Washington and Kyiv, alongside calls from Trump for the Ukrainian leader to step down.
Witkoff also conveyed Washington’s “gratitude” for a diesel deal, which permitted a relaxation of US sanctions on Moscow to facilitate the flow of Russian fuel to the United States, a move that has incited backlash in Kyiv and across Europe. The deal is viewed as a strategy aimed at lowering fuel prices for American consumers as Trump’s Republican Party approaches challenging midterm elections next month. Witkoff mentioned that Washington is interested in further “business and economic cooperation” with Russia once the conflict concludes.
“We even talk about it now openly with the Ukrainians to give them some sort of sense about what the possibilities will be when this whole conflict is over,” he stated. Kyiv has urged Western nations to increase pressure on Moscow and refrain from lifting sanctions. Prior to the talks, Putin announced that Stephen Hubbard, an American taken captive by Russian forces in Ukraine in 2022 and subsequently sentenced to nearly seven years in prison, had been released.
Trump had requested that the Russian leader free Hubbard, a retired English teacher in his 70s who maintained his innocence against allegations of being a “mercenary” fighting for Ukraine. Witkoff portrayed Putin—as a leader who initiated military action in Ukraine in 2022 and whose security services have enforced a widespread crackdown within Russia—as a “humanitarian.” Trump later remarked that Hubbard was on his way back to the United States and clarified that the release had not been part of a swap deal.
© 2024 AFP
