U.S. envoy Steve Witkov arrived in St. Petersburg on Wednesday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as U.S. President Donald Trump urged Kyiv to reach a deal to stop the fighting.
The day before the visit, Vitkov met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and a number of European leaders in the Norwegian capital Oslo.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gall Storr said Witkov planned to return to Oslo after his trip to Russia for more consultations.
“I think we may now have entered a phase where Russia is also looking for diplomatic opportunities,” Storey told Norwegian broadcaster NRK on Wednesday morning.
Zelensky was still in Oslo on Wednesday, visiting the country’s parliament and meeting with lawmakers.
Witkov’s meeting showed that leaders are keen to bring momentum to U.S.-led peace efforts more than 4 1/2 years after Russian troops invaded. The Trump administration has made no significant progress in its efforts to end the war since early last year and there is no sign that a breakthrough is imminent.
Russia and Ukraine remain far apart over a solution, and their militaries remain on the battlefield, conducting long-range strikes on a daily basis.
Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said the Russian president would receive Vitkov at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg on Wednesday morning. Presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev will participate in the meeting, he said.
“Negotiations on the solution to the Ukrainian problem are naturally an integral part of today’s agenda,” Ushakov told reporters.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow was willing to listen to new U.S. proposals on Ukraine but that he did not expect any “miracles” from Washington.
At the White House on Tuesday, Trump stepped up pressure on Zelensky to reach a deal with Russia as relations between the two men soured again.
“We want Zelensky to make a deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We gave a lot to Ukraine. We got absolutely nothing in return except grief, death and huge monetary losses.”
If that didn’t happen, “I think it would be a very bad thing,” Trump said.
Amid concerns about Washington’s rejection of Ukraine, Zelensky said Kyiv had once again received early warning from its partners about incoming Russian missiles, saying the latest attacks occurred without adequate notice from allies.
The change came after Zelensky spoke to his U.S. counterparts, including a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.