Russia is "ready in principle" to resume talks with the United States and Ukraine on ending the war, Vladimir Putin's top aide said Wednesday following a meeting between Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg.

Yuri Ushakov, speaking to reporters after the talks, suggested a new round of negotiations could be held around 10 November in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Ushakov stressed that the talks must focus on "building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the end of the conflict."

Witkoff travelled to St Petersburg after meeting Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Norway and Finland in Oslo on Monday. Ushakov said the ideas presented there were not very "useful."

A US official said that Witkoff and Jared Kushner, another key US negotiator, had proposed at the Oslo talks "a trilateral meeting at the technical level between the US, Russia, and Ukraine." The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the proposal "was accepted by the Ukrainians in Oslo yesterday and by the Russians in St Petersburg today."

Ukraine's President Zelensky and European allies have been pressing Moscow for an immediate resumption of talks that were suspended in February. Russia had for months refused to return to the table, with the Kremlin blaming last month's "massive" Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory during its general elections for the breakdown.

Ushakov also told reporters that Putin reiterated to Witkoff that Russian troops were advancing across the front line and held a "strategic initiative." Ukraine and its European allies have disputed that claim, pointing to what they describe as a virtual stalemate.

Top officials from Russia, Ukraine and the United States have held several rounds of talks aimed at ending the war, which began in February 2022 when Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The meetings in Oslo and St Petersburg took place amid a growing dispute between Ukraine and the United States. President Trump has said it is time for Ukraine to get a new president and, most recently, "for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine."

Trump has also sought to blame Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries for rising fuel prices in the United States. European leaders have expressed concern about recent US statements regarding Russia.