Witkoff is expected to be joined by video-link by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and by several European representatives, including Finnish President Alexander Stubb and officials from the UK, Poland, France and Germany, as well as the EU and Nato.
It is not yet clear whether Witkoff will travel on to Russia after his visit to Oslo, however the Kremlin spokesman said he hoped a meeting with Trump’s special envoy could be organised in the near future. Dmitry Peskov said “we greatly appreciate the mediation efforts of the American negotiators”.
Earlier this month Russia’s Vladimir Putin discussed the war with Trump over the phone, and not long afterwards the US president announced that Moscow would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the US and other markets, bringing to an end American sanctions on Russian diesel exports.
European leaders have expressed concern about recent statements from the US towards Russia, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke on Monday of “mixed pictures and messages” on the war, adding that he was trying to convince the American government “in total that this is something we have to resolve jointly”.
He pointed out that the US had not been paying for the defence of Ukraine since the start of 2025, and Europe and other countries were shouldering the burden.
“It’s really a big effort for our budgets, it’s really a big thing for the European Union, but we are doing that and we are trying to keep on doing that until this terrible war ends,” the German leader told Bloomberg TV.
Asked whether or not Ukraine was a US ally, Vice-President JD Vance has said in a TV interview that Kyiv was “certainly a partner in some ways, but we have some divergent interests from time to time, like for example… I think they should stop bombing Russian energy”.
“We don’t have a formal alliance as far as I know with Ukraine. They’re not in Nato, I don’t think they should be in Nato… we’re gonna work together on some things, but also we’re going to be opposite on some things too.”
