Kremlin Says New Peace Proposals Lack 'Substance' After Witkoff-Putin Meeting
The Kremlin has dismissed new Ukrainian and European peace proposals as lacking substance after US envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian president Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg. Moscow says it is ready to resume trilateral talks in mid-November.
The Kremlin has criticised new proposals to end the war in Ukraine after US envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian president Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Wednesday. The meeting came a day after Witkoff held talks in Oslo with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, aimed at easing a rift between Zelenskyy and US president Donald Trump.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Witkoff briefed Putin on some new aspects of the European and Kyiv approaches from Oslo, but that "there wasn't really much substance in them". He said Russia was in principle ready to resume trilateral talks in mid-November, after the US midterm elections, and wanted them to focus on postwar security.
Zelenskyy said Kyiv supports restarting the talks as soon as possible. Witkoff described his discussions with Putin as constructive but said important work remained, with US, Ukrainian and Russian officials continuing at technical level. Trump claimed it was "the closest we've been" to ending the war.
Criticism in the US
Witkoff faces sharp criticism at home for calling Putin a "humanitarian" after the Russian leader agreed to free US citizen Stephen Hubbard. The 74-year-old former teacher spent more than four years in Russian prisons on charges of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine. Republican senator Thom Tillis criticised the remark on X. Trump brushed it off, while vice-president JD Vance defended it.
Attacks continue
Missiles hit Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday, a Reuters witness said. An earlier Russian evening airstrike on the capital injured six people and damaged homes, a petrol station and transport equipment. Ukrainian officials said Russian strikes killed at least four people, including two in Kyiv. Moscow's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 630 drones were launched towards the region overnight, wounding two people.
Zelenskyy also said the US has resumed sharing intelligence with Kyiv about Russian missile strikes after the Norway meeting.
