Russia says it is ready to resume talks with Ukraine and US to end war

Russia says it is ready to resume talks with Ukraine and US to end war

Russia is "ready in principle" to resume negotiations on ending the conflict in Ukraine, according to Vladimir Putin's top aide Yuri Ushakov. Ushakov made the statement after Putin met with US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg on Wednesday. The meeting lasted about three hours.

Ushakov suggested a new round of talks could take place around November 10 in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. He emphasized that negotiations must focus on "building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the end of the conflict."

Talks between Russian, Ukrainian and US officials have been suspended since February. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and European allies have pressed Moscow to resume negotiations. Russia had previously refused talks, claiming it was winning on the battlefield as Ukraine faces acute shortages of air defense interceptors.

A US official told the BBC that Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner 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 Ukrainians in Oslo and by Russians in St Petersburg.

Witkoff visited St Petersburg after meeting Zelensky and the leaders of Norway and Finland in Oslo on Monday. Ushakov dismissed their ideas as not very "useful".

The Kremlin previously blamed Ukraine's strikes on Russian targets during general elections last month for disrupting talks.

Ushakov told reporters that Putin reiterated Russian troops were "advancing everywhere across the vast front line" and had strategic initiative. Ukraine and its European allies dispute this claim, pointing to a virtual stalemate on the front.

The diplomatic push coincides with growing tensions between Ukraine and the US. Trump has said Ukraine needs a new president and suggested Ukraine should have different negotiators. European leaders have expressed concern about recent US statements toward Russia.