U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Russia after a meeting in Oslo with President Zelensky.
US envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Russia after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and leading European politicians in Oslo as part of efforts to secure peace in Ukraine amid growing tensions between Kiev and Washington.
"Steve Witkoff will fly tomorrow to St Petersburg, where he will be meeting with Russian leadership," Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who co-hosted the talks with Finnish President Alexander Stubb, said on Tuesday evening.
Støre added that Witkoff will share "the proposals that have been worked on by European and American colleagues and possibly pave the way for a meeting at leaders' level."...
According to Norwegian media, representatives of several European countries, as well as the European Union and NATO, joined remotely, alongside US negotiator Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key White House figure.
It's not clear exactly what Witkoff heard or what he plans to say when he reaches Russia, but here at home President Trump was asked about the situation and suggested that he sees Russia's victory as unstoppable.
BREAKING: President Trump says Russia is showing no signs of slowing down on the battlefield as his special envoy Steve Witkoff prepares to travel to Moscow for talks. "They just keep grinding forward," Trump says, pointing to Russia's territorial gains in Ukraine and its ability to keep sending troops into battle. Still, the president insists Russia wants to reach a deal, even as he describes its military advancing week after week.
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 20, 2026
BREAKING: President Trump says Russia is showing no signs of slowing down on the battlefield as his special envoy Steve Witkoff prepares to travel to Moscow for talks.
"They just keep grinding forward," Trump says, pointing to Russia's territorial gains in Ukraine and its ability to keep sending troops into battle.
It's not clear where Trump is getting this information. Presumably he has a pretty good view into what is happening on the ground. And yet, what he just said doesn't match up at all with the best open-source intelligence on Russia's progress.
The Institute for the Study of War published an analysis four days ago which said that Putin and his generals have been vastly overstating their success on the battlefield.
Russian high-ranking military officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, continue presenting greatly exaggerated claims of Russian frontline advances that do not correspond to battlefield realities in order to present a falsely constructed narrative of pervasive Russian military success. Putin visited the Russian Joint Grouping of Forces (GoF) auxiliary command post on October 16 and met with the Russian General Staff leadership and command staff.[1] Putin claimed that Russian forces seized around 6,500 square kilometers of territory and 310 settlements since the beginning of 2026 and added that Russian forces are “confidently advancing” along the entire frontline. Russian Chief of the General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov told Putin that Russian forces seized over 1,800 square kilometers of territory and 92 settlements since September 1, 2026.
The reality, according to ISW, is very different.
ISW has observed evidence to assess that Russian forces have seized about 100 square kilometers and 69 settlements since January 1, 2026, and suffered a net loss of 122 square kilometers since September 1, 2026. Both Putin and Gerasimov are communicating performance metrics that exaggerate Russian frontline successes. ISW has also observed evidence that Russian forces have lost on average seven kilometers daily thus far in October 2026 — contrary to Putin’s false claim of continued Russian advances.
Russia has been losing ground for nearly two months. The ISW suggests Russia is making these false claims to apply pressure on Ukraine and western partners.
Putin, Gerasimov, and other military commanders have heavily exaggerated Russian advances across different sectors of the theater in publicized formats at least once a month since January 2026.[21] The Russian war effort is currently failing to achieve its operational and strategic objectives amid Ukrainian successful counteroffensives during Operation Vivaldi north of Lyman and in the Oleksandrivka direction in 2026, while Russia’s recruitment numbers have decreased.[22] Russian military officials are likely presenting a false picture of Russian sweeping battlefield successes to pressure Ukraine and its Western partners into capitulating to Russia’s demands, which include the complete seizure of Ukraine’s heavily fortified Fortress Belt that Russian forces have been and likely will be unable to capture militarily.
Putin has also been telling Trump directly by phone that Russia is making big advances and will definitely win.
The Russian tyrant said he would continue fighting with Kyiv until he has achieved “all his objectives,” during a Friday call with Trump that lasted an hour and a half.
“Putin made it clear that Moscow will continue hostilities until it achieves all stated goals,” Russian foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told state media.
Putin also tried convincing Trump that Ukraine had “no prospects whatsoever” and that Russia has the outcome of the war “entirely in their hands” — despite evidence pointing to Moscow’s advances slowing in recent weeks and Kyiv even gaining ground.
That call happened on October 9. Trump should know that what Putin claimed is not the case, but it's quite a coincidence that Friday October 9 was the day the Trump administration announced the diesel deal with Russia and on which people within the administration privately asked Ukraine to stop attacking Russian refineries. Two days later Trump announced the "energy ceasefire" which was supposed to stop attacks by both sides.
I'm not suggesting there's some kind of secret reason Trump is listening to Putin and adopting his (bogus) view on this. There's no kompromat involved. I think it's a lot simpler than that. Trump likes Putin in the same way he seems to like Zohran Mamdani. Remember this moment last year?
🚨 President Trump just made a power move in the Oval Office. Trump is making it clear that he's setting Zohran Mamdani up for success. And he just set the dynamic that if NYC succeeds - it's because Trump helped. But if Mamdani fails? It's because of Mamdani's socialism and refusal to cooperate. And Mamdani *CAN NOT* blame the federal government for "obstructing" him. The ball is now in Mamdani's court. He can pursue failed policies and show the American people the communist tendencies of the Democrat Party are horrific, in the real world. Or, he can cave to TRUMP, moderate his ideas, maybe improve the city - and Trump gets to claim some credit for it. And that would NOT happen under socialism. Trump even set up Mamdani for this: "I think he is gonna surprise some conservative people." Many parts of it were also HILARIOUS. Total masterclass.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 21, 2025
I am not a fan of Mamdani and I doubt Trump cares for his politics either, but with Trump the personal sometimes trumps the political. Sometimes he just likes to talk with the winners, no matter who they are or how they won. That seemed to be the case with Mamdani and it may be the case with Putin as well.
But it's unfortunate because Putin really is a dictator and if he's talking he's lying. Russia is not grinding ahead in Ukraine. Russia is losing ground and burning through soldiers faster than it can recruit more. Now is not the time to come to Russia's aid by standing in Ukraine's way.
