Zelensky Confirms Trilateral Talks With US, Russia Could Take Place by Early November

Russia has signaled support for trilateral negotiations with Ukraine and the US, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday, Oct 21, confirming that the meeting could take place no later than early November.

Kyiv received the message from Washington after senior US envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg earlier in the day, Ukrinform reported. The Ukrainian, American and Russian teams will continue communications to prepare the agenda further, although the exact date has not been set yet.

“The American side proposes to do this [organize the meeting] as soon as possible. We support that,” Zelensky said, adding that ending the war remains in focus.

Kyiv backs ceasefire and prisoner exchanges

Zelensky told reporters that the Ukrainian delegation would support proposals for a ceasefire, an energy truce and humanitarian initiatives, including the return of prisoners of war (POWs).

According to Ukrinform, the president had also expressed hope that Russia would honor its commitments to the trilateral format.

Although Moscow has signaled openness to the discussions, it showed very little willingness for a partial truce. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said Putin was not considering an energy ceasefire.

“Russia needs peace, not a ceasefire,” he said, rebuking US President Donald Trump’s recent announcement of an energy truce between the Kremlin and Moscow.

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Following the talks, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that Putin had told Witkoff Russia was “in principle, ready to resume” trilateral negotiations around mid-November, with a focus on postwar security arrangements.

The proposed trilateral meeting – including Ukraine – appears to be separate from a possible meeting between Trump, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of next month’s APEC summit in Shenzhen, which Ushakov said Beijing was already preparing.

Speaking ahead of the meeting with Witkoff in Oslo, Norway, Zelensky said the three leaders were free to meet. However, any talks about Ukraine’s future could only be discussed with Kyiv present “at the table of negotiations.”

On Tuesday, Oct. 20 Trump said that he was willing to meet Putin and Xi in China next month, possibly without Zelensky. He suggested Ukraine should have someone else negotiate on its behalf.

Sign of a thaw between Kyiv and Washington

The renewed push toward peace talks comes as diplomatic ties between Kyiv and Washington appear to be recovering from more than a week of escalating tensions.

Trump’s rhetoric, however, has continued to cast doubt on that recovery. Speaking in the Oval Office on Oct. 20, as the Oslo talks were underway, he claimed that Russian forces “just keep marching forward” in Ukraine and that the US had given Kyiv $350 billion while getting nothing back, other than grief and high diesel.

Kyiv Post found both claims to be false.

The rift began on Oct. 9, when Trump announced an abrupt, controversial diesel deal with Putin while a Ukrainian delegation was holding peace negotiations with Trump’s administration in Miami.

In the days that followed, Ukraine faced unannounced restrictions on Starlink terminals and a week-long pause in US intelligence sharing.

Trump also called for Ukraine to elect a new president, prompting Zelensky to respond that only Ukrainian citizens could decide on his removal.

For the occasion, Kyiv proposed a 60-day ceasefire, but Moscow rejected the proposal, offering only a one-day truce on the day of the elections itself.

Trump also announced an immediate energy ceasefire on Oct. 11, claiming both sides had agreed to it – although neither formally did. While Ukraine abided by the truce, Peskov claimed Trump’s energy truce was never defined, so Russia cannot be accused of breaking it.

Following discussions in Oslo on Oct. 20, Zelensky confirmed US intelligence sharing with Ukraine has resumed, adding that Kyiv could see results within the next 48 hours on Patriot interceptors and Starlink restrictions.

The latest round of diplomacy builds on Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s previous visits to Moscow and Kyiv on Sept. 5-6, where they held three hours of discussions with Putin followed by an informal dinner, before heading to Ukraine for the first time during their tenure.

Although all three sides described the negotiations as substantive and positive, no breakthrough was reached.