Volodymyr Zelensky took his sales pitch for peace straight to Donald Trump's man in Oslo on Monday, hugging it out with US special envoy Steve Witkoff before sending him off to Moscow with a message: let's see what Putin has to say.
The Ukrainian president emerged from a high-stakes huddle in Norway sounding almost optimistic — a rare note from a leader who has spent weeks publicly sparring with the White House — and suggested the stars may finally be aligning for a three-way sit-down between himself, Trump and the Russian strongman.
One idea is to move towards a meeting between the three leaders. Let's see what Putin has to say.
The lines, delivered alongside Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre at a joint press conference, were the clearest signal yet that Kyiv is angling for a summit — and willing to swallow months of bad blood with Washington to get one.
Witkoff on a Moscow-bound plane
Witkoff is slated to fly to St. Petersburg on Tuesday to "exchange ideas" with the Russian leadership, Støre told reporters — a trip the Norwegian framed as a possible path to a leaders-level meeting.
The ideas on the table, per the Norwegian PM: Ukraine's security, a post-war prosperity plan, territory, and sanctions.
Zelensky confirmed Ukraine had "immediately" backed a US proposal for an energy ceasefire — only for Russia to answer with more attacks. "The decision to keep the killing going is Russia's choice, and Russia's alone," he said.
Stubb, the Finnish president, was more bullish, declaring the Oslo session had produced "genuine progress" on both the big picture and short-term fixes, including air defence and partial ceasefires.
Peace requires patience. But unfortunately war does not wait. People are dying every and each day. I think today was a step in the right direction.
Trump to Zelensky: 'Time for a new president'
The Oslo talks were arranged at Zelensky's request, Støre said, after relations between Kyiv and Washington nosedived in recent weeks — a feud that has seen Trump float regime change in Ukraine.
"It's time for Ukraine to get a new president," Trump declared earlier this month, lashing out after Zelensky branded a US-Russia diesel deal a "gift" to Putin.
The Russian president, Trump announced, had agreed to release 300,000 tonnes of diesel onto the American and global market — a deal the Ukrainian leader warned would bankroll Moscow's war machine.
Trump's retort to the criticism was blunt: Zelensky "wants to make problems for the world" by hitting Russian refineries, the US president told reporters. "He better damn well stop."
Sanions axed days before they bit
The bad blood deepened last week when Trump waived a slate of Russia sanctions days before they were due to bite — a move Zelensky said would have "helped enormously" had they taken effect.
And the Ukrainian's bite back has been unmistakable. Addressing an EU summit, Zelensky took a not-so-subtle swipe at the American president, calling it "nice to be among real leaders" — a jab that landed after Trump privately griped that Zelensky was "more difficult to deal with" than Putin himself.
Rubio fires back at intel claims
The mutual sniping has spilled into the war effort itself. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday branded as "scandalous" accusations that Ukrainians are dying because Washington has been choking off intelligence to Kyiv.
The charge — that the US is starving Ukraine of battlefield intel as leverage — has ricocheted around Washington as the Trump-Zelensky feud has intensified, and Rubio's sharp dismissal suggests the administration is feeling the heat.
Whether the Oslo hug and Witkoff's Moscow run cool the temperature — or just buy a news cycle of calm — is the question now sitting with the Kremlin. The answer, as Zelensky himself put it, is Putin's to give.
