US envoy Witkoff heads to Russia for Putin meeting after ‘positive’ talks with Zelenskyy
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Steve Witkoff is currently heading to St. Petersburg
US envoy Steve Witkoff is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday after holding constructive talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy aimed at resolving the Ukraine conflict.
As Witkoff heads to St. Petersburg for crucial peace talks, Zelenskyy and his European allies said it was now up to Russian officials to respond to these peace proposals agreed in Oslo talks. Through these proposals leaders of Norway and Finland and European and NATO representatives hoped to make meaningful progress toward a coordinated approach to engaging Russia.
According to Reuters citing the sources familiar to the matter, the talks in Oslo “encompassed key elements of a comprehensive peace framework, including security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-war economic plan and a broader European security architecture.”
Witkoff would aim to “create a pathway toward direct trilateral and broader multilateral negotiations,” the official added.
Even the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio highlighted the positive nature of Witkoff’s meeting with Zelenskyy and the US envoy would share the results with Russia.
Rubio also denied that Washington restricted Kyiv’s access to SpaceX’s Starlink, a satellite network critical to Ukraine’s war effort. His comments contradict reports alleging the US government helped slow down the service for Ukrainian forces.
Rubio told reporters during a visit to India that nothing surprising came out of Witkoff's talks with the president.
"He will now, armed with those ideas, be able to go to St. Petersburg and share them with the Russian side, and let's see if we can make some progress," he said.
On Starlink, he added, "What I can tell you with certainty is the president of the United States, nor anyone in our system, ever requested that any changes to that system be made."
