Witkoff arrives in St. Petersburg for talks with Putin following Oslo meeting with Zelensky
Russia said it struck three cargo vessels in the port of Reni and two en route to Odesa on Tuesday, while energy facilities were hit across Ukraine. Trump said Ukraine must want to end the war
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff arrived Wednesday in St. Petersburg for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed at resolving the war in Ukraine, two sources with the visit told Reuters. The trip came a day after Witkoff met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo, Norway.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Oslo meeting positive, saying nothing surprising came out of it. “He will now, armed with those ideas, be able to go to St. Petersburg and share them with the Russian side, and let’s see if we can make some progress,” Rubio said.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said Ukraine would be the main focus of the talks. “I don’t know whether any agreement will be reached today, but the talks on the conflict in Ukraine are, of course, the main focus of today’s discussions,” he said.
A US official described the Oslo talks as “constructive,” saying Ukraine brought new ideas and proposals and that participants made “meaningful progress” toward a coordinated approach to engaging Russia. The talks, which also involved the leaders of Norway and Finland along with European and NATO representatives, covered security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-war economic plan and a broader European security architecture.
Following the meeting, Zelensky told reporters that Ukraine was again receiving early warnings of Russian missile attacks. “Now it works, it’s great,” he said, adding that he discussed Patriot interceptor supplies, Starlink and “Article 5-like” security guarantees with Rubio.
The secretary of state said Washington had not pulled back Ukraine’s Starlink access. “What I can tell you with certainty is the president of the United States, nor anyone in our system, ever requested that any changes to that system be made,” he said.
Elon Musk has said the US government controls the military version of the system and that any limits are ultimately up to President Donald Trump. A source said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had not approved Ukraine’s latest requests for Patriot interceptors.
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Trump stated Tuesday that Ukraine must want to end the war. “Ukraine has to want to settle this war,” he told reporters, and said Moscow wanted to get it done. Ties deteriorated after Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel 10 days ago and later issued a broad waiver of tougher sanctions that were due to begin this week.
Russia continued attacking Ukraine. Its defense ministry said it struck three cargo vessels in the port of Reni and two en route to Odesa. Energy facilities were hit in seven regions, and a Russian drone struck an energy facility in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.