Ukraine’s president arrived in Oslo on Tuesday for high stakes talks with top American envoys, even as a bitter dispute over delayed missile deliveries threatens to overshadow the diplomacy.
Volodymyr Zelensky will meet US special envoy Steve Witkoff in person and Jared Kushner remotely, alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, after accusing Washington of delaying missile deliveries that European countries have already paid for. Norway’s government said Ukraine itself requested that the two American envoys join the meetings.
A rift on full display
The talks come at a moment of unusual strain between Kyiv and Washington. Zelensky told US senators on Monday that the Pentagon is holding up the delivery of Patriot interceptor missiles, with the shipment awaiting Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s signature, according to reports. He also said Ukraine received no early warning of powerful Russian missile strikes that targeted energy facilities in the capital region.
Ahead of the Oslo meeting, Zelensky said he held “substantive” and “constructive” talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, insisting that the US military satellite system Ukraine uses, Starshield, “needs to be restored” and that ballistic missile interceptors “are needed to protect lives”, according to reports.
Diplomatic efforts to end the war have stalled in recent months, with Washington’s attention shifting toward the conflict with Iran. The Oslo session is meant to put the diplomacy “on a more constructive path”, Store said, with a joint press conference planned for later on Tuesday.
What could come next
The American outreach may not end in Norway. Axios reported, citing an anonymous US official, that Witkoff could then travel to Russia, where he hopes to meet President Vladimir Putin and present ideas, though the White House has not confirmed the trip.
Zelensky will also meet Norway’s king and address the Norwegian parliament during the visit, a reminder that even amid the tensions with Washington, Kyiv is working to keep its European partners close.
