Moscow Greenlights Trilateral Peace Talks After 4.5 Years of Fighting

More than 4.5 years after the full-scale invasion began, Russia has signaled its readiness to engage in three-way negotiations with Washington and Kyiv, with the first session scheduled to take place after November 10. The announcement followed a high-level meeting in St. Petersburg between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, marking a significant, albeit tentative, shift in the diplomatic landscape surrounding the protracted war.

Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, stated that the Russian leader agreed "in principle" to restart the talks. The stated objective of these upcoming sessions will be to focus on "building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict ends," Ushakov told reporters. The discussion in St. Petersburg lasted roughly three hours, occurring just one day after Witkoff had met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and various European leaders in Oslo, Norway.

The current diplomatic push is unfolding under pressure from the White House. U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly urged Kyiv to reach an agreement to halt the fighting, telling reporters in the Oval Office, "We want Zelenskyy to make a deal." Trump emphasized the U.S. investment in the conflict, adding, "We’ve given a lot to Ukraine. We’ve gotten absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss." He warned that a failure to reach a settlement would be a "very bad thing."

Kyiv has signaled its willingness to participate in the process. In an audio message released on Wednesday evening, Zelenskyy expressed support for the initiative to restart discussions quickly. He outlined the goals as ending the war and bringing peace closer, while also preparing for potential meetings at the leaders’ level. However, he noted a history of volatility in such discussions, stating, "Russia has said many times already that it is ready to meet in one format or another. Then something changed. Things were canceled. We’ll see what happens this time."

The history of these negotiations suggests significant hurdles remain. Representatives from the three nations held three rounds of talks earlier this year, convening twice in Abu Dhabi in January and February, with a subsequent meeting in Geneva that same February. While prisoner exchanges occurred during those sessions, little else was reported as progress because Moscow and Kyiv remained fixed on their longstanding, conflicting core demands.

The meeting at St. Petersburg’s Constantine Palace included Witkoff and Ushakov, along with Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, participated via video link. According to an official familiar with the private meeting, Witkoff and Kushner proposed a three-way meeting at the technical level and discussed a postwar economic plan as well as European security issues. Ushakov stated that proposals emerging from the Oslo meeting "contained little of real value" regarding the resolution of the crisis, though he later admitted to Russian state TV that Moscow is not "fully satisfied" with those proposals but views them as a step in the right direction.

Putin used the occasion to discuss broader geopolitical and economic ties. In televised remarks, the Russian president said he was prepared to consider restoring economic ties with the U.S. and to discuss the U.S.-led conflict with Iran. Ushakov added that large-scale joint economic projects offering significant prospects for cooperation were discussed in detail, with some nearing the implementation stage. Separately, Russia released retired American teacher Stephen Hubbard, who had been imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. Witkoff described the release as a goodwill gesture following a request from Trump.

While diplomacy advances on one front, violence continues on the ground. Overnight attacks in Kyiv resulted in three deaths and 12 injuries, damaging 10 residential buildings. Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi reported that energy facilities were targeted in Kyiv and three other cities. Outside Kharkiv, drone explosions in a residential area killed two and wounded 11. The Russian Defense Ministry reported its air defenses intercepted 373 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions overnight, as well as Crimea and the Black Sea.

Despite the agreed timeline for talks, friction persists. Shortly after Zelenskyy’s message regarding peace efforts, a missile alert sounded over the capital, and loud explosions were heard in Kyiv. Meanwhile, in Oslo, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told broadcaster NRK, "I think we may have entered a phase now where the Russians are also looking for opportunities for diplomacy," confirming that new talks were likely to happen in mid-November.