The negotiations will reportedly focus on the Ukraine conflict and a broader European security architecture<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump\u2019s special envoy Steve Witkoff has arrived in St. Petersburg for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine conflict. The visit comes after Moscow and Washington reached a diesel deal and amid an escalating feud between Trump and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky.
\nAccording to TASS, Witkoff was welcomed at Pulkovo Airport by Kirill Dmitriev, Putin\u2019s investment envoy and a key participant in Ukraine talks.\u00a0
\nVideos shared on social media show Witkoff\u2019s motorcade departing the airport.\u00a0The talks are being held in the 18th-century Constantine Palace, around 20 km southeast of St. Petersburg.
\nKremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov confirmed that Putin-Witkoff talks will revolve around the Ukraine conflict, adding that they were planned several days ago. He noted that Moscow was informed that Trump\u2019s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, fell ill and did not travel to St. Petersburg, stressing that Russian officials have not been in contact with Zelensky.
\nMeanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow has not changed its stance on a potential energy ceasefire with Ukraine, stressing that \u201cwe need peace, not a truce.\u201d
\nWitkoff traveled from Oslo, where on Tuesday he met Zelensky and the leaders of Norway and Finland, alongside European and NATO officials. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the discussions as \u201cpositive,\u201d saying Witkoff will \u201cnow, armed with those ideas, be able to go to St. Petersburg and share them with the Russian side, and let\u2019s see if we can make some progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
An unnamed US official told Reuters that the Oslo talks covered security guarantees, a postwar economic plan, and a broader European security architecture. Washington hopes the outreach will pave the way for direct trilateral negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine, and the US.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Zelensky lobbies US senators to pressure Trump \u2013 Axios<\/p>\n
During talks in\u00a0Oslo,\u00a0Kushner, who joined the meeting remotely, pressed Kiev to halt attacks on Russian refineries, according to Axios.
\nPrior to the St. Petersburg talks, Peskov said Moscow sees every meeting between Putin and Trump\u2019s envoys as \u201cvery important and well-timed.\u201d
\nForeign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia would consider economic initiatives that were \u201cadvantageous to us,\u201d but ruled out unilateral political concessions, noting that future US administrations would not be bound by their predecessors\u2019 decisions.
\nWitkoff\u2019s visit comes after Trump\u2019s October 9 agreement with Putin to ease sanctions on Russian diesel sales, which the US leader said would help relieve high fuel prices for American consumers. Zelensky subsequently condemned the agreement as a \u201cweak decision.\u201d
\nTrump has also repeatedly demanded that Zelensky halt attacks on Russian oil refineries, something he has categorically refused to do. As tensions escalated, Trump suggested that Zelensky \u2013 whose presidential term expired more than two years ago \u2013 should be replaced, while multiple outlets reported that Ukrainian troops were not receiving advance warnings on Russian ballistic missile strikes and were encountering issues with Starlink communications, which are crucial for drone control. The US denied it had suspended intelligence-sharing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The negotiations will reportedly focus on the Ukraine conflict and a broader European security architecture US President Donald Trump\u2019s special envoy Steve Witkoff has arrived in St. Petersburg for talks…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t