3-Way Ukraine Talks Set for After Nov. 10

Russia has agreed to resume three-way negotiations with Washington and Ukraine next month, a development that could bring the first such session since February. The talks are expected to take place after Nov. 10. A Kremlin official said the meetings would focus on building a security system for both Russia and Ukraine once the conflict concludes, a framework that would address postwar arrangements for both nations.

The agreement followed a roughly three-hour discussion in St. Petersburg between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, at which Putin agreed "in principle" to restart the discussions. The meeting at the Constantine Palace also included Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, who joined by video. According to a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity, Witkoff and Kushner proposed a three-way meeting at the technical level and shared details of their earlier talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The conversation also covered a postwar economic plan and European security.

Zelenskyy said he supported Washington's push to restart talks quickly. "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 in an audio message issued late Wednesday. He noted that Russia "has said many times already that it is ready to meet in one format or another. Then something changed. Things were canceled. We'll see what happens this time." Shortly after his message, a missile alert sounded over Kyiv and explosions were heard in the capital.

Representatives of the three countries held three rounds of negotiations early this year, meeting twice in Abu Dhabi in January and February, then in Geneva in February. Little progress was reported beyond exchanges of prisoners of war, as Moscow and Kyiv maintained their longstanding basic demands. The latest proposals to end the war "contained little of real value in the context of resolving the Ukrainian crisis," Ushakov said, though he later told Russian state TV that while Moscow isn't "fully satisfied" with them, they represent a step in the right direction. The Trump administration's efforts to end the war since early last year have not produced significant progress, more than four and a half years after fighting began.

In televised remarks, Putin said he was ready to consider restoring U.S.-Russia economic ties and to discuss the conflict with Iran, adding that Moscow stands ready to use its relationship with Tehran to help bring peace. Ushakov said large-scale joint economic projects between the two countries were discussed in detail with Witkoff, and that "some of these are, in fact, nearing the implementation stage." Putin also met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who was in St. Petersburg, and the two leaders discussed a possible meeting next month between the Russian, Chinese and U.S. leaders at an economic summit in China. Ushakov said Beijing is already preparing for it.

After his meetings in Russia, Witkoff returned to Oslo, where he met Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre for consultations lasting just over an hour. "I think we may have entered a phase now where the Russians are also looking for opportunities for diplomacy," Støre told broadcaster NRK, adding that the new talks were likely to happen in mid-November. Asked whether Zelenskyy could accept a border running along the current front line, Støre said: "I don't think Ukraine will ever formally accept it and say that this is the new border. But whether they can live with it is another matter." Trump, speaking from the White House on Tuesday, increased pressure on Zelenskyy to reach an agreement. "We want Zelenskyy to make a deal," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "We've given a lot to Ukraine. We've gotten absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss." He said that if no deal is reached, "I think it's going to be a very bad thing."

Overnight Russian attacks in Kyiv left three people dead and 12 wounded, while damaging 10 residential buildings, the city's military administration said. Energy facilities were struck in Kyiv and three other cities early Wednesday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said. Outside Kharkiv, two people were killed and 11 wounded when drones exploded in a residential area. The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces struck a warehouse, an electrical substation and a bulk carrier at sea headed to the Ukrainian port of Odesa. Moscow also reported that its air defenses intercepted 373 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, Crimea and the Black Sea.

In a related development, Russia released a retired American teacher who had been imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. Witkoff said it appeared to be a goodwill gesture from the Kremlin after Trump asked Putin to free Stephen Hubbard.