Zelensky and Witkoff arrive in Oslo for peace talks

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump's special representative Steve Witkoff arrived in Norway on Tuesday, October 20, for a new round of talks on ending the war. Separate meetings of the Ukrainian president with the American representative and European leaders, as well as joint consultations on peaceful settlement, are planned in Oslo.

Zelensky announced his arrival in Norway on his official Telegram channel. Witkoff's arrival was previously confirmed by the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.

Zelensky said that during the visit he will hold a trilateral meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

Separately, bilateral talks between the Ukrainian president and Steve Witkoff are planned. After that, a joint meeting involving all four representatives is to take place.

According to Zelensky, the discussion will concern not only diplomatic ways to end the war, but also specific areas of defense cooperation.

"We will also talk about strengthening our air defense and joint production," the President of Ukraine noted.

Thus, one of the priorities of the talks will be strengthening Ukrainian air defense amid massive Russian attacks. The Ukrainian side also plans to raise the issue of joint defense production with international partners.

As part of the visit, Zelensky will have an audience with King Harald V of Norway and visit the Norwegian parliament — the Storting, where meetings with its leadership and representatives of political parties are planned.

The Norwegian government confirmed the program of talks. According to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, the meeting takes place at the initiative of the Ukrainian president and is part of diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war.

In addition to Witkoff, Trump's adviser Jared Kushner will join the negotiation process. As confirmed by the Norwegian government, he will participate in the consultations remotely.

According to Axios, the main goal of the talks in Oslo remains the preparation of joint peace proposals by the United States, Ukraine and European partners. The American side expects to subsequently present these proposals to Russia.

According to a representative of the U.S. administration, over the past week the negotiation teams worked on two main areas of the future agreement.

The first concerns ensuring Ukraine's future. It covers security guarantees, European integration, financing of post-war reconstruction and attracting long-term investments.

The second area provides for the development of proposals for Russia. Among the issues are the conditions for ending the war, the formation of a new European security system and opportunities for economic cooperation after the end of hostilities.

The American official stressed that these proposals still need to be finalized. The next stage will be to test Moscow's readiness for substantive negotiations on their basis.

After the meetings in Norway, Witkoff plans to travel to Russia for a possible meeting with Vladimir Putin. According to Axios, the American representative wants to present to the Russian side the ideas prepared in cooperation with Ukraine and European partners.

At the same time, there is no final confirmation of the future meeting between Witkoff and Putin yet.

The current talks take place amid deteriorating relations between Kyiv and Washington. Disagreements concern, in particular, American agreements on imports of Russian diesel fuel, supplies of interceptor missiles to Ukraine, intelligence sharing and the use of Starlink and Starshield satellite systems.

The previous contact between Zelensky and Witkoff and Kushner took place on October 18 in the format of a telephone conversation. The parties then agreed to continue working on peace proposals and prepare a personal meeting.

According to the Norwegian government, after the talks of Zelensky, Støre and Stubb, a joint press conference is planned.

No results of the current consultations and achievement of concrete agreements have been reported yet.

Based on materials from: Volodymyr Zelensky, NRK, Axios