Witkoff brings proposals to Putin

US envoy Steve Witkoff met Wladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, 21 October, in a meeting of roughly three hours at the Konstantin Palace. Witkoff said he had brought "some documents" and "ideas" for a peace agreement and that Putin could read the proposals calmly. The opening remarks were broadcast on Russian state television. Witkoff had earlier held talks with Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj, and a US government official said Kyiv tabled new proposals at a meeting in Oslo that also involved the leaders of Norway and Finland as well as representatives of the EU and NATO. According to that official, the proposals covered security guarantees, an economic plan for the period after the war and a broader European security architecture.

Kremlin signals talks for mid-November

Kremlin adviser Juri Uschakow said Moscow is "in principle" ready to hold talks with Ukraine and the United States in mid-November, focused on security for Russia and Ukraine once the conflict ends. The last talks of this kind took place in February. Uschakow said the proposals from the Europeans and Ukraine that Witkoff had conveyed would "not contain much substance". Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskow told Russian state media that Donald Trump is sincere in his wish for a peaceful settlement, and the Kremlin said Putin and Witkoff had discussed a "concrete framework" for the trilateral talks.

Kyiv and Berlin set their terms

Selenskyj told Fox News on Wednesday that freezing the front line could be a first step toward a ceasefire, describing it as the minimum Kyiv expects from Moscow today. Asked whether he would accept a deal that froze the front at its current lines after the Russian invasion, he said Ukraine would then ask the US president and European leaders for security guarantees. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany and the Europeans are ready for talks at any time and rejected the idea of Ukrainian surrender:

“But a surrender, or even an unconditional surrender of Ukraine, is out of the question.”

Merz argued that such an outcome would amount to a surrender by all of them, and said Germany will therefore keep supporting Ukraine in its own interest.

Black Sea, Starlink and Lviv

NATO is stepping up its military presence in the Black Sea region as Russian attacks on Ukrainian export routes intensify. Allied states would contribute additional maritime patrol aircraft, radar systems, drones and explosive ordnance disposal teams, and extra intelligence personnel will be mobilised, a spokesperson at the alliance's military headquarters in Mons said. In Brussels, an EU Commission spokesperson called on SpaceX to restore full services for Ukraine after reports that Starlink had been throttled, calling those reports extremely worrying. The spokesperson said Ukraine needs the connectivity to keep soldiers networked, protect citizens and steer the drones it needs to defend its territory. In Poland, Donald Tusk reacted angrily after the regional parliament in Lviv decided to dedicate 2027 to the nationalist underground fighters of the Second World War, telling the news agency PAP that the move harms Ukraine and plays into the hands of its enemies.

Diesel, expert view and what comes next

Russia announced its first diesel shipment to the United States for Thursday, 22 October, with deputy prime minister Alexander Nowak saying the tanker would have a loading capacity of 40,000 tonnes. Security expert Frank Umbach sees Putin in the strongest negotiating position, pointing to the Trump administration's recent concessions to Russia and growing pressure on Ukraine. Zelensky wrote on X after his talks with Norway's prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, in Oslo that much depends on whether the US side hears something new from Putin pointing toward peace rather than the continuation of the war. The next concrete date in the reporting is the proposed mid-November round, which Moscow has said it is ready to join in principle.