Ushakov says Russia ready for Ukraine talks after November 4

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Russia is ready to resume trilateral talks with the United States and Ukraine after November 4, with a first meeting he described as exploratory, and said preparation for a summit of Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping has begun.

Why it matters: The November 4 date, Russia's National Unity Day holiday, is the first timing Moscow has attached to resuming the three-way format, but the remarks are a Kremlin aide's alone and no other capital has confirmed either the talks or the summit preparation.

Data as of Correction, October 25, 2026, 05:58 ET: an earlier version framed November 4 around the US midterm elections; Interfax's full text, read in full in translation, shows Ushakov's stated deadline is Russia's National Unity Day holiday on November 4, and the framing has been corrected. The Interfax article itself covers the readiness after November 4 and the earlier September claim; the sighting-in description and the Putin, Trump and Xi summit preparation were reported by TASS, RIA Novosti and Vedomosti items carrying remarks from the same interview round on Sunday morning, all in Russian, and are attributed that way in the text. Single originating source: a Kremlin aide's interview with Pavel Zarubin of Vesti, with no US, Ukrainian or Chinese confirmation read in this run. Developing item.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Russia is ready to resume trilateral negotiations on Ukraine after November 4, Russia’s National Unity Day, telling interviewer Pavel Zarubin of Vesti that the next deadline is the holiday and that after it Moscow will be ready to resume. He said Russia had earlier been ready to resume after the September 18 to 20 Duma elections, and blamed the Ukrainian side for breaking that arrangement, a claim Kyiv has not answered in the sources read. Other Russian wires carrying remarks from the same interview round on Sunday reported him describing the first resumed meeting as a sighting-in round at which no decisions should be expected, and saying that preparation for a summit of Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping has begun, without a date, a venue or an agenda.

The remarks are Moscow’s account alone: no US, Ukrainian or Chinese official had confirmed the talks timetable or the summit preparation in the sources read.

Ushakov says Russia ready for Ukraine talks after November 4

Sources