Witkoff meets Putin with updated peace proposal amid dispute over energy strikes
Key Facts
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin at Konstantin Palace in St. Petersburg, the Associated Press reported, in a diplomatic effort to end the war in Ukraine. Axios had reported that Witkoff was taking an updated peace proposal to Putin as part of contacts aimed at ending the war. On the Russian side, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the meeting would allow the U.S. envoy to brief Putin on the Ukrainian and European positions. The meeting follows consultations in Oslo that addressed security guarantees for Ukraine, along with military and intelligence cooperation, according to the Ukrainian presidency. Norway's prime minister said the aim of hosting the meetings in the Norwegian capital was to steer diplomatic efforts onto "a more positive track," Reuters reported. The agency also cited Norway as saying Jared Kushner would join the Oslo meetings by video link.
On energy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Putin had rejected a Ukrainian offer for a reciprocal halt to strikes on the sector's facilities, according to the Ukrainian presidency's statement on the Oslo consultations. The offer called for Ukraine to refrain from striking sensitive parts of Russia's energy sector in exchange for Russia halting attacks on Ukraine's energy sector. Zelenskiy thus linked a halt to Ukrainian strikes to an end to Russian attacks, in a proposal addressing the targeting of energy facilities on both sides. The Ukrainian president summed up the Russian response by saying: "Putin said no," according to the Ukrainian presidency. Against the backdrop of the negotiations, Reuters reported that Putin's core objectives include bringing the entire Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine under Russian control. Those objectives also include ruling out Ukraine's membership in NATO, according to the agency.
The Oslo meetings addressed the security guarantees Ukraine is seeking, and the Ukrainian presidency said the U.S. side had stressed that those guarantees must be strong. Discussions covered intelligence cooperation, as well as the Starlink system and missiles designed to intercept ballistic missiles. On attack warnings, the Ukrainian presidency announced that the early warning system had become operational, allowing advance warning of Russian ballistic missile attacks. Describing the system's status, the presidency said "the early warning system is now working" as it outlined the areas of cooperation discussed in the talks. The consultations in the Norwegian capital also extended to rebuilding Ukrainian cities and villages after the war, according to the statement. The topics discussed thus covered security arrangements and defense cooperation, as well as rebuilding Ukrainian areas after the war.
On relations between Washington and Kyiv, Reuters reported that U.S.-Ukrainian ties had deteriorated sharply since U.S. President Donald Trump announced the diesel export agreement with Russia. In the U.S. matter concerning Russian diesel, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a license on 9 October 2026. The license covers transactions involving Russian diesel, with an explicit exclusion concerning accounts held by Russian government entities at U.S. financial institutions. It does not authorize debits to accounts of the Russian central bank held at a U.S. financial institution, according to the text published by the office. The same prohibition covers accounts of Russia's National Wealth Fund and Finance Ministry at those institutions. Those accounts remain subject to that exclusion from the license, despite authorization for the diesel transactions it covers.
In a separate U.S. action, the executive order implementing the Graham Act was issued on 16 October 2026, according to the text published on the White House website. The order includes exemptions from provisions under the law covering sanctions, restrictions and duties, rather than tariffs alone. The text defines the scope of the exemption using the phrase "sanctions, restrictions and duties" within the provisions implementing the law. At the same time, the order maintains earlier measures set out in other executive orders, according to the White House. The continuation of the exemptions, meanwhile, is tied to a subsequent decision by the U.S. president or the secretary of state, in consultation with the entities specified in the order. The order states that they will remain in effect until either of those officials decides to take further action under the mechanism it sets out.
On the next steps in diplomatic contacts, the Ukrainian presidency said Witkoff would brief the Ukrainian side on the results of his contacts with the Russian side. The Associated Press quoted Norway's prime minister as saying the U.S. envoy planned to return to Oslo after visiting Russia. The return is intended to allow further consultations in the Norwegian capital, according to the prime minister's account of the envoy's plans. On the diesel license, the Office of Foreign Assets Control set an expiration date for authorization of the transactions it covers. The authorization runs through 7 April 2027, according to the text published by the U.S. Treasury Department. The license set the authorization's expiration time at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time that day.