Witkoff says he hopes Ukraine included in U.S., Russia talks

Progress toward a negotiated resolution to Russia's war on Ukraine is "theoretically possible," Kremlin officials said Wednesday as U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, but any headway will require Ukraine's leaders to make "necessary decisions," according to Russian state media.

If Ukraine fails to make those decisions, the situation for the country "will be worse," the officials said, according to Russian state news agency TASS. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Moscow would study proposals on the Ukraine war brought to St. Petersburg by Witkoff, but that the talks would take a long time.

During Witkoff's meeting with Putin, he and the Russian leader confirmed that Stephen Hubbard, a U.S. citizen jailed in Russia for more than four years, had been released from custody. President Trump said Putin agreed to free the American with "no 'swap' necessary, but he also said it wouldn't have happened had the U.S. not prevented new sanctions against Moscow from taking effect last week.

State media said Russian officials told Witkoff on Wednesday that a meeting between President Trump, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping was "possible," referring to an idea the White House has also floated, but Ukrainian officials have balked at as it would sideline them from talks on their own country's fate. 

Video of the meeting as it opened Wednesday showed Witkoff saying he hoped to discuss the resumption of trilateral talks between Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine, but the Kremlin did not indicate any new willingness to engage, and Russian officials said before the gathering in St. Petersburg that Moscow's position and demands had not changed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News on Wednesday that he believed trilateral talks between himself, Mr. Trump and Putin were the best way to resolve the conflict, and that he would not accept any resolution crafted by China, Russia and the U.S., saying: "Don't talk about us without us." 

Zelenskyy also said any negotiated end to the war would need to be approved by Ukraine's parliament.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told journalists on a separate trip Wednesday that Witkoff held "positive" talks with Zelenskyy Tuesday in Oslo before traveling to Russia, and that he would share ideas discussed with Zelenskyy with the Russian side in an attempt to "make some progress."

After that meeting with Witkoff in Oslo, Zelenskyy thanked Washington for restoring U.S. intelligence sharing on Russian strikes, after saying this week that his country had stopped receiving advance warnings of imminent Russian missile strikes.

"We are thankful that intelligence works," Zelenskyy told reporters in Oslo, describing the early warnings as "very, very important for our people, for children, adults, civilians" when ballistic missiles were about to strike.

Zelenskyy told Fox on Wednesday, however, that access to data from the Starshield satellite network, the military version of Elon Musk's Starlink system, remained "limited" in Ukraine, but that Rubio was working on it and expected full access to be restored.

Witkoff planned to return to Oslo for more consultations with European officials following his visit to Russia, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said.

"I think we may have entered a phase now where the Russians are also looking for opportunities for diplomacy," Støre told Norwegian broadcaster NRK on Wednesday morning. 

Zelenskyy was still in Oslo on Wednesday, where he said "a lot depends on whether the American side manages to hear something new from Russia today."

The diplomacy comes after weeks of friction between Kyiv and Washington, with Mr. Trump criticizing Zelenskyy for Ukraine's continued response to relentless, deadly Russian strikes on energy and civilian infrastructure with Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure. 

Mr. Trump announced an "energy ceasefire" earlier in the month, claiming both sides had agreed to halt strikes on each other's energy infrastructure, but within hours Russia launched new missile attacks on Ukrainian refineries and other sites, and neither Ukraine nor Russia ever confirmed agreeing to a truce of any kind. 

The U.S. president also announced a deal with Moscow on Oct. 10 for Russia to release millions of tons of diesel fuel over the next several months, which Zelenskyy labeled a sign of "weakness."

Russian state media said the first shipment of diesel had been dispatched for the U.S. on Wednesday.