ST PETERSBURG, Russia, Oct 21 (Reuters) – US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to consider resuming US-mediated peace talks with Ukraine and to review new ideas on ending the war amid Washington’s latest push to stop Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two.
The talks in a grand imperial palace in St Petersburg, the ninth time that Witkoff has met Putin in person, began with a goodwill gesture from Russia – the release of Stephen Hubbard, a retired US school teacher held in Russia.
Putin also offered to help US President Donald Trump in dealing with Iran, saying Russia had a decades-long relationship with Tehran which it has repeatedly offered to leverage to address US concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme. Russia could also supply large quantities of fertiliser to the United States to help US farmers, the Russian president told Witkoff, saying he wanted to discuss a potential meeting in China next month with Trump which the Kremlin has suggested could also include Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The encounter comes amid concerns in Kyiv and among its allies that the United States is backing away from Ukraine, at times holding back real-time intelligence on Russian attacks and hobbling Ukraine’s military communications.
The latest talks also come more than two years since Trump promised in his successful election campaign to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.
“One thing that I hope to accomplish today is to have some good conversation between us about the resumption potentially of trilateral talks between Ukraine and Russia and the United States,” Witkoff told Putin.
“Even if we don’t have a resolution today, if we just talk about and sort of consider what that next step might be I think that would be important and the world is waiting to hear that”.
The last US-mediated peace talks took place in February before the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran.
Ukraine and Russia remain far apart when it comes to the terms of any possible peace deal, but Trump has recently intensified pressure on Ukraine to strike some kind of a deal. He said on Tuesday it was time for Ukraine to end the war or face “a very bad thing.”
‘NEW IDEAS’
Putin, who has shown few signs of compromising on his central war aims, which include full Russian control of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine and no NATO membership for Kyiv, received Witkoff in the Constantine Palace, a grand imperial edifice in what is the Kremlin chief’s home city.
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special investment envoy, was also present at the meeting with Witkoff as both sides talked up the potential of post-war Russia-US economic cooperation.
Witkoff flew into Russia’s second city a day after conducting talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the leaders of Finland and Norway and European and NATO representatives. Witkoff said he would brief Putin on the Oslo talks which he described as productive and said had been characterised by “some degree of momentum.”
He said he had brought some documents with him containing various ideas for a potential peace deal for Putin to review, and that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, also wanted to convey some ideas to Putin and would shortly join the meeting remotely by phone.
A US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Ukraine had brought new ideas and proposals to the Oslo talks, which had made “meaningful progress” toward a coordinated approach to engaging with Russia.
The official said the talks covered “key elements of a comprehensive peace framework,” including security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-war economic plan and a broader European security architecture.
Zelenskiy said he hoped to discuss key issues on how to end the war during a trilateral meeting with Putin and Trump.
The Kremlin has repeatedly said that any Putin-Zelenskiy meeting would need to be painstakingly prepared in advance by aides to make it worthwhile.
FRAYING US-UKRAINE TIES
US-Ukraine ties have deteriorated sharply since Trump announced a diesel export deal with Russia earlier this month to help lower prices in the United States. High fuel costs since he launched strikes on Iran have hurt his Republicans ahead of November legislative elections.
Since the diesel deal, Ukraine has complained of disruption to some intelligence sharing and to its use of the Starshield military satellite system, though Zelenskiy said that Tuesday’s Oslo meeting had reached an agreement to resolve those issues.
Citing US officials and people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that billionaire Elon Musk had last week ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service that Ukraine relies on to track Russian ballistic missile strikes.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Musk has said any such decision is taken by the US military or the president. Trump has said he was not responsible and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated on Wednesday that Washington had not pulled back Kyiv’s ability to access Starlink.
(Reporting by Reuters Writing by Andrew Osborn Editing by Jon Boyle, Toby Chopra)
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