Russia said it is "ready in principle" to resume talks with the US and Ukraine on ending the conflict, according to Yuri Ushakov, a top aide to Vladimir Putin, following a three-hour meeting between Putin and Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg on Wednesday.
Ushakov suggested a new round of talks could take place around November 10 in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. He stressed that any talks must focus on "building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the end of the conflict."
A US official told the BBC that Witkoff and Jared Kushner, another key Trump negotiator, proposed "a trilateral meeting at the technical level between the US, Russia, and Ukraine" during Tuesday talks in Oslo. The official said this proposal "was accepted by the Ukrainians in Oslo yesterday and by the Russians in St Petersburg today."
Witkoff visited St Petersburg after meeting Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and leaders of Norway and Finland in Oslo on Monday. Ushakov dismissed their proposals as not very "useful."
Top officials from Russia, Ukraine and the US held several rounds of talks aimed at ending the war that began in February 2022. Those talks were suspended in February 2024, with the Kremlin blaming last month's "massive" Ukrainian strikes during Russia's general elections for the disruption.
Ukraine's President Zelensky and European allies have pressed Moscow to resume talks. Russia had for months refused, citing what it says is a winning position on the battlefield as Ukraine faces shortages of interceptors against Russian missile attacks.
During Wednesday's meeting, Ushakov said Putin reiterated to Witkoff that Russian troops were advancing across the front and held "strategic initiative." Ukraine and its European allies dispute this claim, pointing to a virtual stalemate on the front.
The negotiations occur amid tensions between Ukraine and the US. Trump has said Ukraine needs "somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine." European leaders have expressed concern about recent US statements toward Russia.