Steve Witkoff met Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo on Thursday, with talks that began after Zelensky first met Jonas Gahr Støre and Alexander Stubb. Jared Kushner joined the discussions by video link, and the setting brought US and Ukrainian diplomacy into the same room at a moment when relations between Kyiv and the US have soured.
Støre said Zelensky had asked Oslo and neighbouring Finland to organise the talks with the US and European allies. Støre said the aim was to steer relations towards "a more constructive path" and to ensure that "the war ended diplomatically with a lasting and just peace".
Oslo talks after Miami
Zelensky travelled with Rustem Umerov and Davyd Arakhamia, both of whom had already held talks in Miami earlier this month with Witkoff and Kushner. That earlier round ended abruptly after the Ukrainian delegation learned that Trump had announced that Moscow would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the US and other markets. Zelensky called that announcement "a happy birthday present" for Vladimir Putin.
The Oslo meeting was not just a follow-up exchange. It placed the same Ukrainian team back in front of the same American negotiators, but this time in a format shaped by Oslo and Finland rather than by Miami. For Kyiv, that matters because the talks now sit inside a broader attempt to keep the US engaged while pressure on Ukraine’s air defences remains part of the discussion.
Rubio and Beskrestnov
Zelensky said he had had a "constructive discussion" with Marco Rubio about US early warnings, missile interceptors and SpaceX's Starlink internet network. Rubio rejected accusations that Ukrainians were dying because the US was withholding intelligence from Kyiv, calling the accusations "scandalous".
Serhii Beskrestnov gave the sharper warning. Speaking to the, Zelensky’s top military adviser said, "This looks very strange" and added, "Sometimes we receive this information before the attack, another time we [do] not." Beskrestnov said the lack of reliable US warnings, including about ballistic missile launches, meant lives were being lost.
Russia and the next move
A bipartisan group of US senators last week called for an urgent investigation into speed restrictions to the Starlink network in Ukraine, adding another pressure point to the talks. On Tuesday, unconfirmed reports said the transfer of more Patriot interceptors had not yet been approved, and Rubio later admitted to reporters in India that it may be true that Patriot interceptor missiles had not yet arrived in Ukraine.
Later on Thursday, Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin "we greatly appreciate the mediation efforts of the American negotiators" and said he hoped a meeting with Trump’s envoy could be organised in the near future. That leaves the immediate diplomatic sequence simple but unfinished: Oslo produced another round of direct contact, and the next step depends on whether Witkoff moves on to Russia after the talks in Norway.
