Witkoff lands in St. Petersburg for talks with Putin at Konstantinovsky Palace
After talks with Zelensky in Oslo, the U.S. envoy is bringing Putin an updated peace proposal. A Kremlin aide played down hopes of a quick agreement.
Archive image · Photo: Andrey Korchagin from St. Petersburg, Russia / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped and resized)
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in St. Petersburg on Wednesday morning, Russian state news agencies reported. He was met at Pulkovo airport by Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev. President Vladimir Putin will receive Witkoff at the Konstantinovsky Palace, with Dmitriev taking part, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said. Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, will not take part, according to the Kremlin; Axios and Meduza had reported he was expected to join by video link. No outcome of the meeting had been announced at press time.
Witkoff is presenting an updated proposal to end the war, Axios reported, citing a U.S. official. The plan emerged from talks in Oslo on Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and representatives of France, Britain, Germany, Poland, the EU and NATO. A U.S. official said the parties made "meaningful progress" and that the proposal could create a pathway toward direct trilateral talks. Stubb said significant progress had been made and that the outcome of the meeting in Russia would be important.
Zelensky wants the next step to be a meeting with Putin and Trump, a format Moscow has so far rejected. He has said he is prepared to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries if Moscow takes reciprocal steps. Trump said on Tuesday that he believed Russia would like a deal but doubted Zelensky wanted to end the war. Ushakov sought to temper expectations, saying: "I don't know whether there will be any agreement today."