US Diplomatic Effort Provides Little Possibility of Peace in Ukraine Soon

After two days of diplomacy in the Norwegian capital and Russia’s St Petersburg, has the war in Ukraine moved any closer to an end? Norway’s prime minister described Tuesday’s talks as “good and constructive,” between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, and European representatives.

Norway proposed a trilateral meeting at the leaders’ level in Oslo. The expectation was that Steve Witkoff’s journey to Russia would open the door for President Vladimir Putin, Zelensky and Trump to meet and arrange an end to the war.

But Putin has shown little interest in sitting at a table with Zelensky unless that table is in Moscow. The Kremlin believes it may be ready to continue trilateral discussions next month in Abu Dhabi, but only at a technical level.

Steve Witkoff himself admitted in a post on X that “there is still important work to do”. But he stated “President Trump remains committed to seeing this war end. The most significant statement of the day for me came from Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov. He participated in the St. Petersburg talks.

Ushakov added that Mr Witkoff briefed President Putin on the negotiations in Oslo and what he described as “new approaches from the Europeans and Kyiv.

Clearly the Kremlin adviser was not impressed by what he heard.There was not much useful there as far as solving the Ukraine crisis is concerned,” Ushakov said.I don’t know how close we are getting,” Yuri Ushakov remarked. “But we are moving in that direction.

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