A freeze along the current line

On Wednesday, 21 October 2026, Volodymyr Zelensky told the US broadcaster Fox News that Ukraine is ready to freeze fighting along the current front line and open diplomatic negotiations to end the war with Russia. He called a freeze the minimum Ukraine expects from Moscow, and said it could be framed as a truce or as the halt to killing that President Donald Trump has described. Zelensky said he would accept a deal that froze fighting at the present positions, leaving Ukraine with 75% or more of its territory, and called that a real way to end the war. After a ceasefire, Kyiv would ask the United States and European partners for security guarantees, followed by reconstruction. Zelensky said 9.5 million Ukrainian citizens had lost their homes and were scattered abroad, and that they would return to rebuild the country.

Witkoff's two-stop trip

US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Ukrainian and European officials in Oslo on Tuesday, 20 October, and travelled on to St Petersburg on Wednesday to meet Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin said the meeting at the Konstantin Palace lasted three hours and that Witkoff brought new proposals for ending the war, drawn up by Europeans and Ukraine. Jared Kushner took part in the Oslo discussions remotely, online, according to Digi24. Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said Witkoff had reported some new approaches from the Europeans and Kyiv, but that these nuances did not fully satisfy Moscow, and he gave no details of the changed positions. Zelensky described his own Oslo meeting with Witkoff as productive, and Deutsche Welle reported that Kirill Dmitriev met Witkoff at the airport on his arrival in Russia.

The next round of talks

The Kremlin said Putin had shown readiness for new three-way talks with Washington and Kyiv. Ushakov said Moscow was in principle prepared to resume negotiations with Ukraine and the United States in mid-November, with a possible date after 10 November and Abu Dhabi as a possible venue. The White House confirmed that Kyiv and Moscow had accepted a proposal for another technical-level meeting in this format. The last three-way talks took place in Geneva in February, and before that twice in Abu Dhabi. Ushakov said the central topic would be building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict, and noted that the war has lasted four and a half years.

Open questions

Zelensky rejected the suggestion that Russia is winning on the battlefield, saying Moscow had not succeeded in 2026 and was trying to pressure Kyiv into withdrawing from its territory. He acknowledged that Ukrainians are tired of the war but said the country cannot simply abandon its land. Zelensky also thanked the United States for resuming intelligence sharing and expressed hope that restrictions on the use of Starlink and Starshield would soon be lifted. Welt recalled that Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and tried to topple the government in Kyiv.