Witkoff to present Putin with peace proposal after talks with Zelensky

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Wednesday to propose a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine, according to a U.S. official. Jared Kushner, son-in-law and adviser to former President Trump, will join the virtual meeting. The U.S. hopes Putin will demonstrate a greater willingness to negotiate after Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel sales and took other measures Moscow accepted.

Witkoff arrived in Russia after a day of talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, leaders of Norway and Finland, and representatives from France, the UK, Germany, Poland, the EU, and NATO. Zelensky expressed a desire for a trilateral meeting involving Putin, Trump, and himself, a request Russia has thus far rejected. The White House aims for the new U.S. proposal to pave the way for direct trilateral and wider multilateral talks, a U.S. official stated.

During the Oslo discussions, Ukraine presented fresh ideas and proposals, which the U.S. official described as having yielded significant progress and broad agreement at the working level on subsequent steps. Kushner reiterated Trump's demand that Ukraine cease strikes on Russian oil refineries, emphasizing this point to Putin. Following the meeting, Zelensky said he is prepared to suspend strikes on Russian oil refineries if Moscow reciprocates with similar concessions.

Trump noted on Tuesday that he believes Russia may wish to finalize an agreement, but expressed skepticism about Zelensky's commitment to ending the conflict, warning that failure to reach a deal would only worsen the situation for Ukraine.