US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Wednesday and asked him to consider restarting three-way peace talks with Ukraine and the United States.
The meeting at the Constantine Palace was the ninth time the two men have met in person. It came a day after Witkoff held talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Finland and Norway, along with European and NATO representatives.
A goodwill gesture before the table
Russia opened the meeting with a gesture: the release of Stephen Hubbard, a retired US school teacher who had been held in Russia. Putin also offered to help Washington with Iran, saying Moscow has a decades-long relationship with Tehran that it could use to address US concerns about Iran's nuclear programme.
The Russian president said Russia could supply large amounts of fertiliser to the United States to help American farmers. He added that he wanted to discuss a possible meeting in China next month with Trump, which the Kremlin has suggested could also include Chinese President Xi Jinping.
What Washington brought from Oslo
Witkoff told Putin he hoped for "some good conversation" about "the resumption potentially of trilateral talks between Ukraine and Russia and the United States". He said that even without a resolution, agreeing the next step would matter because "the world is waiting to hear that".
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ukraine brought new ideas to Oslo and that the talks made "meaningful progress" toward a coordinated approach. The discussions covered security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-war economic plan and a wider European security architecture.
Kyiv's concerns
Zelensky said he hopes to discuss the key issues of ending the war at a trilateral meeting with Putin and Trump. The Kremlin has said any Putin-Zelensky meeting would need long preparation by aides to be worth holding.
The talks come amid concern in Kyiv and among allies that Washington is stepping back from Ukraine, at times withholding real-time intelligence on Russian attacks and limiting Ukrainian military communications. More than two years after Trump promised to end the war within 24 hours of taking office, the fighting continues.