For me, the most telling statement of the day was from Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov. He took part in the St Petersburg talks.
Ushakov said that Steve Witkoff had told President Putin about the discussions in Oslo and (as Witkoff viewed them) “new approaches from the Europeans and Kyiv”.
The Kremlin adviser was clearly unimpressed by what he heard.
“In terms of resolving the Ukraine crisis, there wasn’t much there that was useful,” commented Ushakov.
Later Russian state TV asked him about the prospects for peace.
“I don’t know how close we are getting,” Yuri Ushakov said, “but things are moving in that direction.”
All rather vague.
It seems that President Putin doesn’t feel under pressure right now to end the war.
He knows that Ukraine’s air defences are under severe strain.
He knows that winter is coming and may well view the cold weather as an opportunity to pound Ukraine into submission.
He knows, too, that there is a US president in the White House who clearly wants a bigger, better, more profitable relationship with Moscow.
