US envoy Witkoff to return to Oslo after Putin meeting, says Støre

US special envoy Steve Witkoff is returning to Oslo after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who plans to meet him at the airport for a debriefing. Witkoff traveled to St. Petersburg directly from talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Støre, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. He is carrying proposals for a mutual halt on attacks against energy production and grain shipments from Ukraine via the Black Sea, aiming to facilitate a meeting between Putin, Trump, and Zelenskyy. Støre emphasized that Europe cannot leave the matter solely to American negotiators and hopes Europe will be represented in any future leader-level talks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has preemptively rejected political concessions, while experts view the Oslo meetings as a potentially promising start but warn against interpreting them as a breakthrough.