Russian President Vladimir Putin began talks with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, asking him to set out results of discussions with Ukrainian and European leaders in Norway on a potential deal to end the war in Ukraine.

Putin also proposed a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in China, where the Russian leader is due to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting next month. He said Russia was ready to help resolve the Middle East conflict and was interested in restoring economic ties with the U.S.

Witkoff told Putin it was “so good to see you” and said he’d brought papers setting out proposals for a potential resolution of the war following “productive” discussions in Oslo. The envoy asked Putin to review and examine these documents.

“One thing that I hope to accomplish today is to have some good conversation between us about a resumption potentially of trilateral talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States,” he told Putin, in video posted on Telegram by state media.

Witkoff arrived in St. Petersburg a day after talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb amid escalating tensions between Kyiv and Washington over U.S. support for Ukraine against Russian missile attacks. The talks represented an attempt to revive stalled diplomacy aimed at reaching a deal to end Russia’s full-scale invasion that’s now in its fifth year.

They follow a more than week-long row sparked by Trump’s deal with Putin to allow Russia to sell some diesel into global markets as the U.S. president seeks to lower surging gasoline prices ahead of Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections. The feud quickly escalated into mutual accusations, with Trump suggesting Zelenskyy should step aside as the president and the Ukrainian leader accusing him of trying to push Ukraine into surrender.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said “progress” had been made at the talks in Oslo and Europe was always ready to talk about a settlement to the war.

“But the surrender or even unconditional surrender for Ukraine is not an option because this were a surrender of all of us,” Merz said on a panel at the Berlin Global Dialogue on Wednesday moderated by Stephanie Flanders, Bloomberg’s head of economics and government coverage.

Speaking on Fox & Friends Wednesday, Zelenskyy said he wants any peace deal with Russia to go to a referendum because the Ukrainian people needed to have a say in what might be a decision involving a loss of some territories. For now, Ukraine is willing to freeze the war along the current frontline before moving to talks and discussion on U.S. security guarantees, he said.

“Of course we can support or not support the deal,” Zelenskyy said. “But first of all, only one nation has to support it: Ukrainian people, because it’s our losses.”

Zelenskyy told reporters on Tuesday that one aim of Witkoff’s trip is to plan for a trilateral meeting of the U.S., Ukrainian and Russian presidents “to address the issues that only the leaders can do,” including around territorial claims. “Let’s see what Putin has to say,” he said.

The Norwegian premier told public broadcaster NRK that he expects Witkoff to return to Oslo later Wednesday after the meeting with Putin. Zelenskyy said he won’t be in Norway to meet Witkoff again and plans to return to Ukraine.

Witkoff thanked the Russian leader for ordering the release of an American prisoner, Stephen Hubbard, who’d been held since 2022 after being captured in Ukraine.

Putin told Witkoff he also wanted to hear an assessment of the Middle East conflict with Iran, saying Russia had a “special, trusting relationship” with Tehran. “If there is anything we can do to improve this further, we would be happy to do so,” Putin said.

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