Following Vladimir Putin, Russian President’s meeting with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff as part of Washington’s latest diplomatic push to resolve Europe’s most severe conflict since World War II, the Kremlin announced on Wednesday that Moscow has agreed to restart U.S.-mediated peace talks with Ukraine as soon as next month.
The discussions—held inside a grand imperial palace in St. Petersburg, marking Witkoff’s eighth face-to-face meeting with Putin—commenced with a Russian gesture of goodwill: the release of Stephen Hubbard, a retired American schoolteacher imprisoned in Russia whose freedom had been personally requested by U.S. President Trump.
The Wednesday encounter unfolded amid mounting anxieties in Kyiv and among Western allies that the United States is scaling back its support for Ukraine, at times withholding real-time intelligence regarding Russian strikes and disrupting Ukrainian military communications.
Furthermore, these latest talks occurred more than two years after Donald Trump vowed during his successful presidential campaign to bring the war in Ukraine to a close within a single day.
According to the Kremlin, technical peace discussions could potentially take place in Abu Dhabi, focusing primarily on post-war security guarantees for both Russia and Ukraine, against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.
Prior to the outbreak of war between the US, Israel, and Iran, the most recent U.S.-mediated peace talks occurred in February.
Possible meeting With Trump, Putin and Xi
Despite Donald Trump’s intensified pressure on Ukraine to reach a settlement, significant gaps remain between the two nations regarding acceptable peace terms. On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin warned that Ukraine must bring an end to the hostilities or face “a very bad disaster.”
During Wednesday’s discussions, Putin also offered to assist Trump regarding Iran, pointing out Russia’s long-standing diplomatic relationship with Tehran—a relationship Moscow has frequently offered to leverage to ease U.S. concerns over Iran’s nuclear program.
Kremlin sources indicated that Putin told Witkoff securing a deal with Tehran is both realistic and essential.
Discussions also touched upon a potential meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in China next month. According to the Kremlin, Beijing is already preparing for what it describes as a historic first-of-its-kind summit.
Read Also: Republicans Challenge Trump Over Waived Russia Sanctions, Ukraine Policy
