Putin agrees to restart Ukraine talks after Witkoff meeting

Update, 22 Oct 2026, 1 PM (IST): Added Witkoff's statement after the meeting and Zelenskyy's response.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed "in principle" to resume three-way peace talks with the United States and Ukraine after 10 November, the Kremlin said after a meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg on Wednesday, 21 October.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Moscow was ready to resume the talks between 10 and 19 November, with Abu Dhabi as a possible venue, after a meeting of about three hours, the Associated Press and PBS reported. Hours before the meeting, Russia freed Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired American teacher it had held since 2022.

Key points

• Putin agreed in principle to restart US-Russia-Ukraine talks after 10 November, possibly in Abu Dhabi, the Kremlin said.
• The meeting in St Petersburg on 21 October lasted about three hours.
• Russia released Stephen Hubbard, 74, a retired teacher from Michigan held since 2022, as a goodwill gesture.
• The day before, Witkoff met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders in Oslo and spoke of "some degree of momentum".
• Ushakov played down recent Ukrainian and European proposals; no breakthrough is expected soon.

What the Kremlin said after the meeting

After the talks, Ushakov told reporters that Putin had agreed in principle to resume the trilateral format, in which American, Russian and Ukrainian officials sit together. He said Moscow was ready to return to the table between 10 and 19 November, and that the agenda would centre on a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the fighting ends, according to the AP and CNN.

Ushakov also said recent proposals from Ukraine and Europe contained little of real value for resolving the conflict, the AP reported. That suggests the gap between the two sides on the terms of any settlement remains wide.

Witkoff said on social media that the discussions were constructive and would continue with trilateral talks at the technical level, adding that President Trump remains committed to ending the war but that important work remains, CBS News and NewsNation reported.

Zelenskyy, for his part, told Fox News he would not accept any settlement drawn up without Ukraine, and that any agreement to end the war would need the approval of Ukraine's parliament, CBS News reported.

A US official, by contrast, described the discussions as covering key elements of a comprehensive peace framework, including long-term security guarantees for Ukraine, according to the AP.

Earlier rounds of trilateral talks were held in Abu Dhabi this year, before the process stalled.

Russia frees Stephen Hubbard

Just before the meeting, Russia released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired teacher from Michigan who had been held since 2022 after being detained in a part of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces. He was handed over to Witkoff at St Petersburg's Pulkovo airport, ABC News, NBC News and CNN reported.

• Russia's account: The Kremlin said Putin released Hubbard on humanitarian grounds. Russian state media had reported that he was convicted of fighting for Ukraine, a charge his family called fabricated, CBS News and NBC News reported.
• Trump's account: President Donald Trump said Putin had agreed to free Hubbard at his request, with "no swap" needed, CBS News reported.
• Why it matters: Hubbard was the last American the US State Department had designated as wrongfully detained in Russia, according to ABC News. He had spent about four years in Russian custody, CBS News reported, and his release removes one of the long-running irritants in US-Russia relations ahead of the November talks.

The Oslo talks with Zelenskyy

On Tuesday, 20 October, Witkoff met Zelenskyy in Oslo, alongside the leaders of Norway and Finland and representatives of the European Union and NATO. Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, also took part, joining remotely according to some reports. Witkoff called the talks productive and said they showed "some degree of momentum", and said he would brief Putin on them, Al Jazeera and the AP reported.

Two disputes hung over the meeting:

• Intelligence sharing: Zelenskyy said the US had resumed sharing intelligence about incoming Russian missile strikes. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio disputed that there had been any pause, according to reports.
• Satellite internet: Zelenskyy accused Washington of slowing Starshield, the military satellite service Ukraine relies on at the front. Al Jazeera, citing The Wall Street Journal, reported claims that Elon Musk had ordered the slowdown; Musk said such decisions belong to the US military or the president, and Trump denied responsibility.

Zelenskyy has said that freezing the conflict along the current lines is "the real way to end this war", the AP reported.

Putin's other offers

According to Al Jazeera, Putin also used the meeting to raise other issues with Washington:

• An offer to help the US deal with Iran, citing Russia's long relationship with Tehran.
• A proposal to supply large amounts of fertiliser to American farmers.
• A possible meeting with Trump in China next month, which the Kremlin suggested could include Chinese President Xi Jinping.

These offers have not been confirmed by the White House, and it is not clear how Washington responded to them.

The pressure on Kyiv

The meetings come as relations between Washington and Kyiv have grown tense. Trump has stepped up pressure on Ukraine to "make a deal", and US-Ukraine ties have been strained since Trump announced a diesel export arrangement with Russia earlier this month, Al Jazeera reported. Witkoff has met Putin in person many times since early 2025; Al Jazeera described Wednesday's meeting as his ninth.

On the ground, the fighting continued. Ukraine's emergency service said a Russian attack on a high-rise building in Kyiv killed two people, and Russian officials said a Ukrainian drone attack in the Bryansk region killed one person, Al Jazeera reported.

Why it matters for India

India has called consistently for dialogue and diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark to Putin in 2022 that "today's era is not of war" is often cited as India's position.

The war also touches India directly. India's purchases of discounted Russian oil have been a point of friction with the United States, which raised tariffs on Indian goods in 2025. Any settlement that eased sanctions on Russia could change the oil market and remove one source of strain in India-US ties, which US Secretary of State Rubio discussed with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Mumbai this week, as we reported in our Rubio story. A wider settlement would also affect global energy and food prices, which feed directly into Indian inflation.

What happens next

• Talks in November: If the Kremlin's timetable holds, US, Russian and Ukrainian officials could meet between 10 and 19 November, possibly in Abu Dhabi.
• The gap remains: Russia has dismissed the latest Ukrainian and European proposals, while Zelenskyy has argued for freezing the fighting along the current lines. Expectations of a quick deal are low, and the details of any security guarantees for Ukraine are still the hardest part.
• A Trump-Putin meeting: The possibility of a meeting in China, raised by the Kremlin, has not been confirmed by Washington.

We will update this story as the talks develop.

The next test is whether negotiators actually sit down in November. Until then, the war goes on, and so does the diplomacy.