In brief
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff’s trip to Russia and the Oslo talks with President Zelensky and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store were seen as a gateway to a rare triple‑side summit. However, Russian Foreign Ministry officials said the talks were limited in scope, and President Putin’s aides remain unimpressed with proposed wins. The Kremlin hints at technical‑level talks in Abu Dhabi, leaving a full‑scale summit far off. Meanwhile, some analysts predict a possible meeting between Trump, Putin and Xi Jinping in China, which could reshape global power dynamics. As the war rages on, diplomatic hurdles keep the road to peace longer than many had hoped.
A recent meeting in Oslo joined U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store. The talks were called “good and constructive”, but they fell short of producing a concrete path to a Trump‑Putin‑Zelensky summit.
Otched officials from the Russian Foreign Ministry, including Yuri Ushakov, reported that the discussions were largely technical. They said the talks gave little “useful” material for resolving the Ukraine crisis and that the Kremlin is currently not pressing for a top‑table meeting in Moscow.
Witkoff himself acknowledged that “there is still important work to do.” Yet the U.S. envoy’s meeting advanced little ahead of the war’s next winter, when Russian forces expect to push hard on Ukrainian defenses.
Some commentators see a potential meeting in China next month, where Trump, Putin and Xi Jinping may shoulder a brief APEC‑style session. They call it the “New Yalta,” noting that Russia’s interest is to secure a place at the world’s top table.
Until a real, high‑level summit materialises, Ukraine’s hopes for a swift end to the fighting remain modest. The diplomatic shuffle seems to favour a more pro‑Russia posture from the U.S., which is a welcome shift for Moscow but a disappointment for Kyiv.
