Witkoff meets Zelenskyy in Oslo, to see Putin Wednesday

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Oslo on Tuesday. He is due to fly to St. Petersburg on Wednesday, October 21, to present Vladimir Putin with peace proposals, including a possible three-way summit with President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy, Politico Europe reported. The Oslo meeting was meant to repair relations between Washington and Kyiv, which have sunk to new lows as Trump has courted Moscow and Ukraine has accused the U.S. of holding back vital defenses.reuters.com+1

Talks in Oslo

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb hosted the talks. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner joined remotely. Støre called the meeting "good and constructive" and said Witkoff would share ideas from Oslo with Russian leaders and "possibly pave the way for a meeting at leaders' level". Stubb said, "Today was a good day for peace".politico.eu+2

Zelenskyy said questions about Ukrainian territory could only be settled by leaders, and that any deal would need real security guarantees and Ukraine's involvement in drafting it. A U.S. official said Kushner would also join the Putin meeting virtually. The same official said Ukraine had put forward "new ideas and proposals" and that the sides had discussed security guarantees.english.alarabiya.net+1

Kremlin and the Hubbard case

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow hoped Witkoff would "brief President Putin on their contacts with both the Ukrainians and the Europeans". The New York Times reported that the envoys also want to secure the release of an American. The U.S. State Department lists only one American as wrongfully detained in Russia: Stephen Hubbard, 72, who was sentenced in 2024 on mercenary charges. Russia's Foreign Ministry confirmed it was in talks with Washington about a possible prisoner release. "I've asked him to release him. Let's see what happens," Trump said of his talks with Putin about Hubbard.themoscowtimes.com+2

Strained ties

Kyiv says Washington has stopped giving early warning of Russian missile launches, slowed down the Starshield satellite links that guide its drones, and failed to deliver air defenses that European allies paid for. On Monday, Trump said "Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine". Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there had been no "deliberate political directive to go out and harm Ukraine". Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, "We haven't pulled anything back".pbs.org+2

Russian attacks killed at least nine people in Ukraine on the day of the talks. Putin still demands that Ukraine give up all of the Donetsk region before any ceasefire, a condition Kyiv has rejected. "We want Zelenskyy to make a deal," Trump said in the Oval Office.dw.com+2