Witkoff Carries Ukraine Peace Proposal to Putin in St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG / OSLO, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff arrived at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg on Wednesday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, carrying a formal document that lays out a range of security guarantee options for Ukraine after a day of intensive consultations in Norway.

The meeting, confirmed in advance by Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, follows a Tuesday session in Oslo where Witkoff met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and another senior White House adviser, joined the Oslo talks online and was expected to participate virtually in St. Petersburg as well, according to reporting by Axios cited by Ukrainian news agency UNN.

Zelenskyy, speaking to journalists in Oslo on Tuesday evening, said the document Witkoff was taking to the Kremlin outlines several distinct security guarantee models, including full NATO membership, the collective-defence clause of NATO's Article 5, and a lighter variant loosely modelled on Article 5. "Various types of security guarantees are outlined in the document Steve will share with the Russians," Zelenskyy said, as reported by the New Voice of Ukraine, adding that Kyiv expected a response within two days.

A U.S. official described the Oslo session as producing "meaningful progress" toward a coordinated approach to engaging Moscow. According to EA WorldView, which tracked the diplomacy in detail, Washington's framework now covers three broad pillars: security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-war economic plan, and a broader European security architecture. The goal, the official said, is to "create a pathway toward direct trilateral and broader multilateral negotiations" involving Zelenskyy, Putin, and Trump, a format Russia has so far refused.

The territorial question, the most combustible element of any settlement, was conspicuously left for another level. "As for territories, everyone understands that such issues must be discussed at the highest level," Zelenskyy said, according to Ukrinform. That framing is a holding position rather than a concession: Kyiv has not agreed to cede any ground, and any proposal that formalises Russian control over occupied eastern and southern Ukraine would face enormous political resistance inside Ukraine.

On the margins of the Oslo talks, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had agreed to support a U.S. proposal for an energy ceasefire, meaning Kyiv would halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure if Moscow reciprocated. According to Hlavne.in.ua, citing Zelenskyy directly, Ukraine supported the energy-truce idea and was ready to refrain from attacking sensitive Russian energy targets on that basis. Russia has not publicly accepted the terms.

The diplomatic sequence carries weight that earlier rounds of shuttle diplomacy did not. The White House has already lifted sanctions on Russian diesel sales and taken what Moscow views as other conciliatory steps, moves that Washington calculates may make Putin more willing to engage seriously, according to reporting reviewed by AllSides from multiple wire services. The gamble is that economic incentives offered to Russia will not simply harden its negotiating position at Kyiv's expense.

Back in Oslo on Tuesday, Finnish President Stubb told reporters the sides had found "key elements on security" and "key elements on the economy," and that despite what he called "a lot of noise in the public space," negotiations were advancing well at the technical level, as reported by EA WorldView.

Kyiv's other immediate concerns are operational, not just diplomatic. Zelenskyy confirmed after the Oslo session that U.S. intelligence sharing and early-warning alerts for Russian ballistic missile attacks had been restored, a reversal of restrictions that Ukrainian officials had publicly complained about. Patriot interceptor supplies and the scope of Starlink access remain under discussion.

Moscow, for its part, has yet to signal any flexibility on the format Putin will accept. The Kremlin aide Ushakov confirmed the St. Petersburg meeting was planned and agreed in advance, but said the Russian side had had no direct contact with Zelenskyy during the process. Putin's special representative Kirill Dmitriev attended the meeting alongside Witkoff.

Sources cited:
- Kyiv Post (https://www.kyivpost.com/post/87704)
- Ukrinform (https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/4176475-zelensky-on-meeting-with-witkoff-there-are-proposals-on-ceasefire-natolike-security-guarantees.html)
- The New Voice of Ukraine (https://english.nv.ua/nation/zelenskyy-witkoff-to-take-ukraine-security-guarantees-document-to-russia-50651854.html)
- EA WorldView (https://eaworldview.com/2026/10/ukraine-war-zelensky-witkoff-putin/)
- Hlavne.in.ua (citing Zelenskyy) (https://glavnoe.in.ua/en/news-en/witkoff-to-hand-russia-document-outlining-security-guarantees-for-ukraine-zelenskyy)
- UNN / Axios (https://unn.ua/en/news/witkoff-will-present-putin-with-an-updated-peace-proposal-axios)
- AllSides (https://www.allsides.com/news/2026-10-21-0700/ukraine-war-witkoff-present-putin-peace-proposal-after-talks-zelensky)