3-Way Talks: The Kremlin’s New Deadline for Peace

Three-way negotiations are officially back on the table, with Moscow agreeing to resume talks with Washington and Kyiv next month.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted the proposal "in principle" following a three-hour meeting in St. Petersburg with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff. Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, confirmed the decision, noting that the discussions will focus on constructing a security system for both nations once the conflict concludes. This development follows a day in which Witkoff met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders in Oslo, a gathering that Ushakov initially described as yielding proposals with little real value, though he later characterized them as a step in the right direction.

This marks a potential turning point after three rounds of stalled negotiations earlier this year in Abu Dhabi and Geneva. While those meetings resulted in prisoner exchanges, both sides remained entrenched in their core demands. The current push for diplomacy comes more than four and a half years after the war began, with the Trump administration having made limited progress in its efforts to broker a deal since early last year.

Zelenskyy voiced support for the swift restart, stating in an audio message that the agenda is clear: end the war and prepare for a leaders' level meeting. However, his optimism was tempered by the reality on the ground, as missile alerts sounded over Kyiv shortly after his statement. In the White House, President Donald Trump applied significant pressure on Kyiv to reach a deal, warning that the U.S. has given much and received little in return. "I think it's going to be a very bad thing" if a deal is not reached, Trump told reporters, highlighting the strain in his relationship with the Ukrainian leader.

The St. Petersburg meeting also touched on broader geopolitical and economic issues. Putin expressed readiness to consider restoring economic ties with the U.S. and discussed large-scale joint projects that are nearing the implementation stage. Jared Kushner joined the discussion via video link, and the parties explored a potential economic summit in China involving the leaders of Russia, the U.S., and China. Additionally, Russia released a retired American teacher, Stephen Hubbard, in what Witkoff described as a goodwill gesture.

Despite the diplomatic movement, the fighting continued. Overnight strikes on Kyiv and other cities left five people dead and at least 23 wounded, with energy facilities targeted in multiple locations. The Russian Defense Ministry reported intercepting 373 Ukrainian drones over various regions and the Black Sea. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who met with Witkoff after his trip to Russia, suggested the new talks are likely to occur in mid-November, indicating that the region may be entering a new phase where diplomacy is actively pursued alongside the conflict.

The next critical step is the technical-level three-way meeting scheduled for November. If these talks succeed in laying the groundwork for a leaders' summit, it could signal a genuine shift toward a negotiated end to the war, though the gap between current front lines and formal borders remains a significant hurdle for all parties involved.