Russia signals readiness for renewed Ukraine-US peace talks

Russia has signalled conditional willingness to restart talks with Ukraine and the United States on ending the war, following a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg on 21 October. BBC News reported that Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov suggested negotiations could take place around 10 November in Abu Dhabi, although the date and venue remained tentative.

Ushakov described Moscow as “ready in principle” after the meeting, which lasted about three hours. Separately, an unnamed US official said Ukraine and Russia had accepted a proposal for a technical-level meeting involving the three countries.

A possible technical-level meeting

According to the US official, Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and another negotiator, put forward the proposal during discussions in Oslo. The official said Ukraine accepted it there on Tuesday and Russia agreed in St Petersburg on Wednesday.

Ushakov said renewed negotiations should address a post-war security framework for both Russia and Ukraine. He was dismissive, however, of ideas emerging from Witkoff’s earlier consultations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Norway and Finland.

Zelensky and Ukraine’s European allies have been urging Moscow to return immediately to negotiations. Senior representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the US have already held several rounds aimed at ending the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Battlefield claims remain contested

Ushakov said Putin told Witkoff that Russian forces were advancing throughout the front and retained the strategic advantage. Ukraine and its European allies reject that assessment, describing the battlefield as largely deadlocked. Putin’s account is a contested Russian claim, not an agreed assessment of the military situation.

The diplomatic opening comes as Ukraine faces a serious shortage of interceptors used to defend against Russian missile attacks. Moscow has resisted renewed negotiations for months while maintaining that its forces have the upper hand.

US-Ukraine tensions complicate diplomacy

The meetings also took place against a widening disagreement between Washington and Kyiv. Trump has called for Ukraine to have a new president and, more recently, for someone other than Zelensky to negotiate on its behalf.

Ahead of the US midterm elections next month, Trump has also blamed Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries for rising fuel prices. The report places those increases in the period since the start of the US-led war on Iran; it does not establish Trump’s explanation as the cause. European leaders have voiced concern over recent US statements concerning Russia.

Acceptance of a technical-level meeting would represent a procedural step towards renewed diplomacy. Neither the tentative Abu Dhabi proposal nor the statements following the St Petersburg meeting amount to an announced ceasefire or a settlement.