Key takeaways
- Steve Witkoff is travelling to St. Petersburg on October 21 to present Putin with a revised US-brokered Ukraine peace framework.
- The package offers a route to a Trump-Putin-Zelenskyy summit and a proposed pause in strikes on refineries and power grids.
- Lavrov signalled Moscow will listen but rules out any political concessions, maintaining its demand for Ukrainian territory in Donbas.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff is travelling to St. Petersburg on Wednesday, October 21, to present Russian President Vladimir Putin with a revised US-brokered framework for ending the war in Ukraine. The package builds on talks held in Oslo on Tuesday. It offers a route to a summit of US President Donald Trump, Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, together with a proposed mutual pause in energy strikes.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre hosted the Oslo consultations on October 20. Zelenskyy, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Witkoff (in person) and representatives of the E4 (the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Poland), the European Union and NATO took part. Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser, joined remotely because of illness and will join the St. Petersburg discussions virtually. Støre and Stubb called the talks "good and constructive" and said the process was "back on track". A US official said the parties made "meaningful progress" and reached "strong alignment at the working level".
The proposals and Moscow's response
Washington and Kyiv are proposing a face-to-face Trump-Putin-Zelenskyy summit. That format would depart from the Kremlin's earlier precondition that any bilateral meeting take place in Moscow. Zelenskyy said core territorial questions can only be settled directly between heads of state.
The second element is a reciprocal energy pause. Ukraine would halt long-range drone strikes on Russian oil refineries and export terminals, and Russia would stop attacking Ukraine's power grid. Kushner pressed the idea in Oslo. Zelenskyy said Ukraine is ready to pause refinery strikes if Moscow ends attacks on power infrastructure. Trump announced an energy ceasefire on October 11 without terms. Ukrainian officials then reported Russian strikes on energy sites, and the Kremlin had not commented at the time.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signalled that Moscow will listen to Witkoff's presentation. He cautioned that Russia will rule out "any political concessions". Moscow maintains its insistence on Ukrainian territorial concessions in Donetsk and the wider Donbas.
Observers are reading: the three tests that will show whether the Oslo package moves beyond Moscow's stated refusal of political concessions.
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Detainee case and the next indicator
US officials expect Witkoff to raise the release of Stephen Hubbard, a 72-year-old American sentenced by a Russian court in October 2024 to nearly seven years in a penal colony. No outcome from the Putin meeting had been reported on October 21.
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