After Oslo talks, Witkoff heads to St. Petersburg with proposals on Ukraine

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to St. Petersburg on Wednesday for talks with Russian officials after Ukraine talks in Oslo, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said Tuesday evening at a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. Witkoff is to present European and U.S. proposals discussed in Oslo, and the meeting could "possibly pave the way for a meeting at leaders' level," Støre said. Witkoff did not attend the news conference; Jared Kushner joined the talks online.

"We have some clear ideas on how to get to peace," Zelensky said, adding that one important idea was "to move to a trilateral meeting of the leaders" with Trump and Putin. According to the Kyiv Independent, Article 5-style security guarantees were also discussed and will be put to Moscow by Witkoff. Zelensky spoke of clear positive signals from the U.S. side and said intelligence sharing on ballistic missiles had resumed, Swedish news agency TT reported. Stubb said negotiations were advancing well at the technical level.

No concrete agreements were announced. The talks took place amid strained ties between Kyiv and Washington after Trump accused Zelensky of not wanting to end the war. Kyiv says Patriot interceptors already paid for by Europeans are being held up in Washington; Secretary of State Marco Rubio said nothing was being deliberately denied to Ukraine, AFP reported. Moscow continues to demand that Ukraine cede the Donbas.