Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed "in principle" to resume three-way peace talks with the United States and Ukraine after 10 November, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, following a meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg. Russia also released Stephen Hubbard, a retired American teacher who had spent more than four years in a Russian prison.
The St Petersburg meeting
Putin and Witkoff met for about three hours at the Constantine Palace, according to the Associated Press. Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev attended, and Jared Kushner joined by video link.
Ushakov said the new talks would focus on "building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict ends." Witkoff said there was "some degree of momentum", but AP reported no sign of an imminent breakthrough.
Putin also said he was open to restoring economic ties with the US and to discussing the US-led conflict with Iran. Witkoff thanked him for lifting Russia's ban on diesel exports.
American prisoner freed
Stephen Hubbard, a retired American teacher jailed in Russia on mercenary charges, was released. Witkoff described it as a goodwill gesture made after President Donald Trump asked Putin.
Little progress so far
Three earlier rounds of three-way talks in 2026, in Abu Dhabi in January and February and in Geneva in February, produced little beyond prisoner exchanges, according to AP. The day before meeting Putin, Witkoff met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders in Oslo; Finland's President Alexander Stubb said that meeting "made genuine progress."
Zelenskyy has suggested freezing the conflict along current lines. "Right now, we have to freeze, and I think this is (the) real way to end this war," he said, adding that only a summit of leaders could break the deadlock. Trump said on Tuesday: "We want Zelenskyy to make a deal," warning it would be "a very bad thing" if no agreement was reached.
The fighting continues
Overnight Russian strikes killed three people in Kyiv and two near Kharkiv, while Russia said it intercepted 373 Ukrainian drones. Trump said on 11 October that both sides had agreed to stop attacking energy infrastructure, but strikes on power grids and oil refineries have continued.
What happens next
Witkoff is due to return to Oslo for further talks, and the three-way negotiations are expected to resume after 10 November. With the war well into its fifth year, the key questions remain territory, security guarantees for Ukraine and whether a leaders' summit can be arranged.
