Kremlin Says Russia Will Rejoin Three-Way Ukraine Talks With Washington and Kyiv After Nov. 10

Russia has agreed to resume three-way negotiations with the United States and Ukraine aimed at ending the war, a Kremlin official said on Wednesday, Oct. 21. If the talks go ahead, they would be the first of their kind since February.

Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign affairs adviser, told reporters that Putin agreed "in principle" to restart the process after Nov. 10. He spoke after Putin met U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg. According to Ushakov, the talks will center on "building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict ends."

The meeting, held at the city's Constantine Palace, lasted about three hours, the Kremlin said. Ushakov and Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev attended, and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, joined by video. A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Witkoff and Kushner proposed a technical-level meeting among the three countries and briefed Putin on their talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the previous day. They also covered a postwar economic plan, European security and preparations for the upcoming meeting, the official said.

The day before, Witkoff had met Zelenskyy and several European leaders in Oslo. Ushakov first said the proposals from that meeting "contained little of real value in the context of resolving the Ukrainian crisis," but later told Russian state television that Moscow, though not "fully satisfied," saw them as a step in the right direction.

In his televised opening remarks, Putin said he was ready to consider restoring U.S.-Russia economic ties and to discuss the U.S.-led conflict with Iran, adding that Moscow could use its relationship with Tehran to help bring peace. Ushakov said large joint economic projects were discussed in detail, with some "nearing the implementation stage." He also said Putin and Witkoff talked about a possible meeting next month of the Russian, Chinese and U.S. leaders at an economic summit in China, which Beijing is already preparing for. Separately, Russia released Stephen Hubbard, a retired American teacher jailed on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. Witkoff described it as an apparent goodwill gesture after Trump asked Putin to free him.

Zelenskyy said in an audio message late Wednesday that he supported Washington's push for swift talks. "The agenda is clear: to end the war, bring peace closer, and, as I understand it, prepare everything for a meeting at the leaders' level," he said. He noted that Russia had often said it was ready to meet, "Then something changed. Things were canceled. We'll see what happens this time." Soon afterward, a missile alert sounded over Kyiv and loud explosions were heard.

The three countries held three rounds of talks earlier this year, in Abu Dhabi in January and February and in Geneva in February. Little progress was reported beyond prisoner exchanges, as Moscow and Kyiv held to their longstanding core demands. Trump administration efforts to end the war since early last year have made no significant headway, more than 4½ years after the invasion began.

After leaving Russia, Witkoff stopped again in Oslo and met Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre at the airport for just over an hour, NRK reported. Støre said Russia now appears to be seeking diplomatic openings and that new talks were likely in mid-November. Asked whether Ukraine could accept a border along the current front line, he said he did not think Kyiv would ever formally accept it as the new border, but "whether they can live with it is another matter."

Pressure on Kyiv has grown. On Tuesday, Trump said at the White House, "We want Zelenskyy to make a deal," adding that the U.S. has "gotten absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss." He warned that without a deal, "it's going to be a very bad thing." Zelenskyy said Kyiv is again receiving early warnings from partners about incoming Russian missiles after recent strikes that came without enough notice.

Fighting continued overnight. Ukrainian authorities said Russian attacks on Kyiv killed three people and wounded 12, damaging 10 residential buildings. Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said energy facilities were hit in Kyiv and three other cities, and that two people died and 11 were wounded near Kharkiv when drones exploded in a residential area. Russia's Defense Ministry said it struck a warehouse, an electrical substation and a bulk carrier headed for Odesa, and that it intercepted 373 Ukrainian drones overnight.