Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff courting Russian President Vladimir Putin, the United Kingdom’s approval of an offshore natural gas project, and psychological warfare on the Korean Peninsula.
Witkoff Courts Putin in St. Petersburg
Less than 24 hours after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff held high-stakes talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Norway, U.S. President Donald Trump’s go-to negotiator flew to Russia for an ambitious meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. The focus: restarting Ukraine peace talks.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff courting Russian President Vladimir Putin, the United Kingdom’s approval of an offshore natural gas project, and psychological warfare on the Korean Peninsula.
Witkoff Courts Putin in St. Petersburg
Less than 24 hours after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff held high-stakes talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Norway, U.S. President Donald Trump’s go-to negotiator flew to Russia for an ambitious meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. The focus: restarting Ukraine peace talks.
In recent weeks, Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with the continuation of the war in Ukraine, especially as high fuel prices at home risk undermining the Republican Party’s performance in next month’s midterm elections. Trump’s ire, however, has primarily centered on Kyiv—not Moscow.
Last week, Ukraine accused the Trump administration of abruptly limiting its access to military-grade Starlink satellite services and of threatening to withhold information crucial to its defense. Trump had repeatedly urged Ukraine to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries, even as Moscow continued to target Kyiv’s power grid.
Meanwhile, the White House suspended U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel exports last week and floated a multibillion-dollar deal with Russia’s Lukoil.
Even though Trump has argued that Ukraine should find “somebody else to negotiate” other than Zelensky, the White House has expressed no such qualms with Putin. Instead, Witkoff appeared to pull out all the stops to curry favor with the Kremlin on Wednesday, including by stroking Putin’s ego.
“You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that, I commend you, and I thank you again,” Witkoff told Putin, who is wanted as a war criminal by the International Criminal Court. The comments were made after Moscow released a U.S. citizen detained in Russia since 2022 as part of a goodwill gesture.
The flattery may have worked. Russia confirmed on Wednesday that Putin has agreed to resume U.S.-mediated peace talks with Ukraine as soon as next month. The negotiations are likely to be on the technical level, such as how to ensure Ukraine’s security once the conflict ends.
However, Moscow did not give any indication that it is willing to compromise on some of its biggest demands, including full Russian control of the occupied Donetsk region, a halt to Ukraine’s NATO membership ambitions, and the establishment of a peace deal without first securing a cease-fire.
“Russia would like to get it done,” Trump said on Tuesday, referring to reaching a peace agreement. However, he expressed doubt that Zelensky wants to end the conflict. “If they don’t make a deal, it’s just going to get worse” for Ukraine, he added.
Zelensky responded with his own caveats, reiterating calls for a cease-fire while agreeing to freeze his military’s front line. At the same time, Ukraine carried out more strikes on Russian energy infrastructure on Wednesday, doubling down on a pledge to target such sites so long as Russia continues to do so.
Still, the Trump administration is painting Witkoff’s back-to-back meetings as “constructive,” especially as Putin appears eager to foster closer ties with the United States.
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What We’re Following
Drill, baby, drill. The British government approved a controversial offshore natural gas project in the North Sea on Wednesday, silencing dissent from activists who denounced the continued extraction of fossil fuels. The United Kingdom has characterized the deal as a “pragmatic” approach to improve its energy security as global fuel prices skyrocket.
“But even on our ambitious climate path, we’ll still require oil and gas as part of our energy needs for decades to come,” British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said in a statement on Wednesday while also pledging billions of dollars to a new fund focused on expanding the country’s renewable energy development.
Britain hopes that Jackdaw field, located off the coast of Scotland, will reduce its reliance on imported fuel and make households less susceptible to price volatility. Another winner of the gas deal, though, is Trump, who has long pressured the U.K. to “open up” the North Sea to new drilling projects.
Trump applauded the decision on Truth Social, calling the North Sea “one of the greatest and most prosperous areas of OIL in the World” and arguing that the U.K. “should go FULL BLAST!!!”
Loudspeaker warfare in the DMZ. North Korea has announced that it will activate propaganda speakers along its entire border with South Korea by the end of October. According to Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, tactical teams will also take up new positions along the demilitarized zone to provide support for Pyongyang’s “psychological warfare” operation against Seoul.
North Korea also warned its troops on Wednesday to take “prompt and resolute action” if South Korean forces threaten their safety. Animosity between the countries has worsened in recent years, particularly after North Korea fortified its border in April 2024. Pyongyang and Seoul have since used psychological warfare tactics, from speakers blaring K-pop songs to balloons filled with trash and excrement.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has made easing tensions on the peninsula a centerpiece of his foreign-policy platform. But that hasn’t stopped Seoul from accusing North Korean troops of crossing the demarcation line at least 50 times this year or from vowing on Tuesday to “resolutely” punish any further North Korean provocations.
Carney seeking new partners. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney traveled to Turkey on Wednesday to bolster ties in energy, defense, and trade cooperation. He will be the first Canadian head of government to visit Ankara for a dedicated bilateral trip, after which he will meet with Turkish business leaders in Istanbul.
The historic visit is part of Carney’s efforts to decrease economic dependence on the United States in the face of sweeping U.S. tariffs. Nuclear energy will likely be at the top of Carney’s agenda with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Over the summer, both countries’ trade ministers identified areas of collaboration involving Canada’s CANDU nuclear reactor technology. Ottawa is looking to expand its nuclear energy partnerships to reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels, while Ankara is hoping to use CANDU to build its own nuclear plant on the Black Sea coast.
Joint cooperation is also expected to focus on defense procurement, specifically concerning the production of ammunition, drones, and counter-drone weaponry. Turkey is one of the world’s leading defense exporters, with sales surpassing $11 billion in 2025. Canada has tried to bolster its defense investments to meet NATO’s minimum spending pledge.
Odds and Ends
Everyone has pet peeves. For FP’s World Brief writer, it’s when kitchen drawers are left cracked open. For Britain’s Burnham, it’s when people riding buses or trains listen to music or videos without headphones.
On Monday, Burnham announced a nationwide campaign against what he called “one of the most annoying things on public transport,” encouraging local leaders to crack down on “nuisance” behaviors by fining passengers or asking them to leave. Now, if only Burnham could promote a ban on unkempt cooking areas.