Steve Witkoff arrived in Oslo in the week of October 19 to 25 with an assignment that has repeatedly defeated diplomacy: carry a peace proposal shaped with Ukraine and Europe towards Vladimir Putin, while finding out whether Russia will move from its demand for territory. Trump appointed Witkoff as his special envoy to coordinate peace diplomacy between the US, Ukraine and Russia.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended the Oslo discussions with representatives of Norway, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, the European Union and NATO. The Ukrainian delegation included presidential chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov, first deputy presidential chief of staff Sergiy Kyslytsya, deputy presidential chief of staff Pavlo Palisa and Rustem Umerov. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb co-organised the gathering and joined the discussions.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a fellow peace negotiator, joined remotely after contracting the flu.
Witkoff is expected to take ideas developed jointly with Ukraine and European partners to Putin in Russia. The purpose is to test whether the work directed by Trump can become the basis for serious negotiations with Russia.
The Oslo meeting followed a day of parallel diplomacy on October 9. Trump spoke with Putin by telephone, then said Russia would provide diesel fuel to US and global markets under a 'diesel deal'.
Also on October 9, Witkoff and Kushner met a Ukrainian delegation in Miami. The talks had been scheduled for October 9 and 10, though they concluded after the first day.
The Kremlin has indicated that it wants the Oslo discussions carried on to Putin. It said it hoped Witkoff would brief the Russian president in the coming days, while spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin wanted to continue exchanging views with Witkoff on “a range of very important issues”.
Putin’s position on territory remains the central obstacle. He continues to require Ukraine to cede full control of the Donetsk region before any ceasefire agreement, a demand Ukraine has repeatedly rejected. Sources close to the Kremlin told Bloomberg that Putin expects Russian forces to take full control of Donetsk by late February 2027.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said Russia was “a big machine that just keeps grinding forward” and had taken “a very large piece of land”. He called on Ukraine to make a deal to end the war.
The prospective Russia talks may also cover Stephen Hubbard, a 73-year-old American held in a Russian penal colony. A Russian court sentenced Hubbard, a retired teacher, in October 2024 to six years and 10 months in a medium-security prison on charges of serving as a mercenary.
For Witkoff, the next stage is therefore narrower and harder: putting Ukrainian and European proposals before Putin while confronting a Russian condition that Kyiv has already refused.
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