Putin Says Russia Ready to Resume Trilateral Talks With US and Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on the evening of October 22 that Moscow has informed the United States it is ready to resume trilateral talks involving the US, Ukraine and Russia, according to Russian state news agencies.

Putin said the aim of the negotiations would be "achieving a final peace and ensuring Russia's security." By his account, Russia is still "ready to negotiate and look for a way out of the difficult situation in Ukraine."

Hard line on war aims

The Russian leader also claimed that Russia would accomplish its tasks and that "all the goals of the SVO" would be achieved. "SVO" is the term Russian propaganda uses for the Russia-Ukraine war. He further asserted that Ukrainians are "rounded up on the streets like stray dogs" and forced to the front.

"Kyiv chose war itself - 'please.' Russia offered to help Ukraine reach an agreement on Donbas, but Kyiv chose guns," Putin said.

Background: Witkoff's visit

On October 21, US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin in St. Petersburg for about three hours. The talks came a day after Witkoff met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Norway and Finland in Oslo.

After the meeting, Witkoff called Putin a "humanist." Putin, for his part, told him that Moscow was allegedly ready to resume trilateral talks in the US-Ukraine-Russia format in the second decade of November. After the St. Petersburg meeting, Russian forces fired 21 missiles at Kyiv, killing at least two people and wounding more than 30, Ukrainska Pravda reported.