Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due in Oslo on Tuesday for talks on the war and European security, the Norwegian government said, as US envoy Steve Witkoff prepares to visit Norway this week for negotiations on ending the conflict.
Zelensky and European officials are expected to take part in the talks with Witkoff, Reuters reported, according to The News.
“President Zelenskyy has asked Norway and Finland to arrange a meeting as part of ongoing diplomatic efforts, at a critical time for Ukraine,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said.
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said he would join the meetings with Zelensky and Store to discuss “Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine and the overall security situation in Europe”.
A call with Rubio
Before travelling, Zelensky said he had held substantive talks by phone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He listed three priorities:
- Interceptors: “ballistic missile interceptors, which are needed to protect lives”
- Early warning: of Russian ballistic missile attacks, “which is vital”
- Starlink: “the situation with Starlink/Starshield, which needs to be restored”
“Of course, all of this comes against the backdrop of our diplomatic efforts to end this horrific war and the constant killing of people,” he wrote on X.
Relations between Washington and Kyiv have hit a low in recent days. The US signed a diesel deal with Russia, and President Donald Trump then suspended Russia sanctions, moves Zelensky criticised.
A night of strikes
Russia launched one of its broadest air assaults in months overnight into Monday, cutting power to more than half a million households and damaging energy infrastructure across Ukraine, The Express Tribune reported, citing Reuters.
- Missiles and drones: 16 ballistic missiles at Kyiv and the surrounding region, and more than 200 drones
- Reach: attacks stretched from Kharkiv and Dnipro in the east to Odesa in the south and Volyn and Rivne in the west
- Deaths: two people were killed in and around Kyiv and two in the industrial city of Kryvyi Rih, officials said
Zelensky said Ukraine had received no advance warning of the ballistic missile strike from its partners, and that some vital deliveries from the United States were being delayed.
Putin floats a three-way summit
The Kremlin said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could hold a three-way meeting on the sidelines of next month’s APEC summit in China.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a Wall Street Journal report that Putin had proposed such a meeting to discuss ending the war. The subject “was indeed raised,” Peskov said, “but no specific proposals or agreements were discussed or put forward by anyone”.
Trump said he was open to the idea. “We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearization,” he told reporters at the White House.
Ukraine rejected it. “A trilateral meeting between the leaders of Ukraine, the US, and Russia could help end the war sooner. A trilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia, China, and the US would do only the opposite: encourage Putin to continue this war,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
Why it matters
With strikes intensifying and US support wavering, the Oslo talks are Kyiv’s chance to keep Washington engaged on its terms. Read our reports on Trump’s suspension of Russia sanctions and on Musk’s call for Zelensky to step aside.
This article draws on reporting by The News, The Express Tribune and Reuters.
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