U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Russian officials in St. Petersburg on Oct. 21 to discuss European and U.S. proposals for peace in Ukraine, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said.
This will "possibly pave the way for a meeting at leaders' level," Store said at a press conference in Oslo on Oct. 20 after talks with Witkoff and President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The officials, as well as Finnish President Alexander Stubb, met in Norway in a precarious moment for Ukraine, with Russia escalating attacks against energy infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Kyiv's ties with Washington are sharply deteriorating amid concerns that the U.S. could be withholding the delivery of Patriot air-defense missiles funded by Ukraine's allies, as well as other support.
"We have some clear ideas on how to get to peace. And we are united with our European partners in this effort, and we want the Americans to take these ideas to the Russians," Zelensky said at the press conference.
"One of the important ideas is to move to a trilateral meeting of the leaders, to address the issues that only the leaders can do."
Witkoff will also present to the Russian side proposals on Article 5-like post-war security guarantees for Ukraine, which were discussed in Oslo, Zelensky said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has long evaded a meeting with Zelensky. Instead, the Kremlin chief reportedly pushes to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in China next month to secure a favorable peace deal, without Ukraine at the table.
"We discussed and found key elements on security, and we discussed and found key elements on the economy," Stubb commented on the latest talks, saying that proposals have been developed by European, Ukrainian, and U.S. officials.
The Finnish president remarked that despite "a lot of noise in the public space," negotiations are advancing well "on the technical level."
Jared Kushner joined the talks in Oslo online, and officials are also expected to hold discussions with national security advisors from European countries.
Witkoff was not present at the final press conference. When asked about his absence by a reporter, Store said, "This is a press conference among political leaders."
The New York Times reported earlier that Witkoff would meet Putin while in Russia, possibly to discuss the release of Stephen Hubbard, a 72-year-old American citizen who was reportedly serving with a Ukrainian territorial defense unit in Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, when Russian forces detained him in 2022.
More than a year and a half of U.S.-led peace efforts have failed to make headway as Moscow continues to demand that Ukraine cede Donbas, a strategically vital region in Ukraine's east that Russian forces were unable to take fully by force.
The peace push has now been further hampered by a sharp deterioration in Ukraine-U.S. relations, following the unexpected announcement of a U.S.-Russia diesel deal on Oct. 9.
Since then, Zelensky and Trump have exchanged sharp public criticism. Trump said his Ukrainian counterpart "doesn't want to end this war, and probably never did."
Trump has also refused to condemn the Kremlin over its escalating attacks on Ukraine, including strikes on the country's already vulnerable energy infrastructure.
Zelensky, meanwhile, warned in an interview with NBC News that siding with Putin would be a "historic mistake."