U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in St. Petersburg on the morning of Oct. 21 to prepare a new round of peace talks with his Russian counterpart, Kirill Dmitriev.<\/p>\n
Witkoff met with President Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> and European allies the day before in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, to discuss their peace proposals ahead of his meeting in Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n This will “possibly pave the way for a meeting at leaders’ level,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said at a press conference in Oslo on Oct. 20 after talks with Witkoff and Zelensky.<\/p>\n However, Witkoff’s movements are taking place while Kyiv’s ties with Washington are sharply deteriorating amid concerns that the U.S. could be withholding<\/a> the delivery of Patriot air-defense missiles funded by Ukraine’s allies, as well as other support.<\/p>\n Zelensky said at the Oct. 20 press conference with Store that he hopes Witkoff will take the peace proposals put forward by Ukraine and Europe to Russia, and “move to a trilateral meeting of the leaders, to address the issues that only the leaders can do.”<\/p>\n But Trump already brought that idea into question after reporters in Washington asked him about the prospect of a trilateral meeting.<\/p>\n “They don’t have to be in the same room. I guess I can do it another way. It’s hard for them to be in the same room. I don’t care how it’s done,” Trump said<\/a>.<\/p>\n And Russian leader Vladimir Putin has long evaded a meeting with Zelensky. Instead, the Kremlin chief reportedly<\/a> pushes to meet Trump<\/a> in China next month to secure a favorable peace deal, without Ukraine at the table.<\/p>\n