Witkoff brings peace ideas to Putin in renewed Ukraine talks

Putin maintains Donetsk demand as Moscow shows little sign of halting strikes

Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Constantine Palace in St Petersburg on Wednesday for fresh talks on ending the war in Ukraine. A Reuters photograph by Gavriil Grigorov showed Witkoff and Putin shaking hands at the palace. The Guardian said the meeting occurred amid increasingly close relations between Moscow and Washington.

Witkoff had traveled to Russia from Oslo, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders a day earlier in an attempt to build momentum in stalled negotiations. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was in its fifth year. The trip was Witkoff’s ninth to Russia since Trump tasked him with brokering an end to the war.

During the televised portion of the meeting, Witkoff told Putin: “We’ve brought some papers. It’s really some ideas, some sort of peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, and you’ll read that at your leisure.” He later said there was “some degree of momentum” behind efforts to reach a peace deal and described the Oslo talks as “constructive.” Putin thanked Trump and his wife, Melania, for “their attention to efforts to end the war.”

The Guardian nevertheless reported few signs of an imminent breakthrough. Ukraine had repeatedly called for a ceasefire, including a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure, but Moscow had given little indication it intended to end its bombardment as winter approached. The Guardian reported that Moscow appeared confident continued pressure would help it extract greater concessions from Kyiv. It also reported that Putin remained intent on his maximalist war aims, including his demand for full Russian control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

During the same meeting, Putin ordered Stephen Hubbard released from a Russian jail. Hubbard, 74, was a former teacher who had spent more than four years in Russian jails on charges of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine. Russia released him unilaterally rather than through the prisoner exchanges that had often accompanied previous releases of Americans held in the country. After the release was announced, Trump wrote on Truth Social that it followed a request he had made “directly” to Putin the previous week. He wrote: “The United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return – an unprecedented situation for Russia … There was no ‘swap’ necessary for this release.”

A photograph credited to the Moscow city court press service/AP showed Hubbard in court in Moscow in October 2024. The Guardian said Hubbard’s release “appeared to be Moscow’s latest calculated move” to bring Trump further into line with Putin’s position on Ukraine while offering the US president “a diplomatic victory” ahead of the midterm elections.

Witkoff also praised Putin during the meeting, telling him: “You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that.” A photograph of his remarks was credited to Kristina Solovyova/Pool Sputnik Kremlin/AP. Witkoff also conveyed Trump’s thanks for the controversial agreement to resume Russian diesel exports to the United States. The Guardian contrasted that warmth with increasingly hostile rhetoric toward Zelenskyy from senior U.S. officials, particularly Trump, who has called for the Ukrainian president to resign and portrayed him as the main obstacle to peace.

The Guardian reported that the latest rupture in relations between Washington and Kyiv was triggered by Trump’s surprise decision to lift sanctions on Russian diesel as part of a deal with Putin, followed by his call for Zelenskyy’s replacement after Ukraine refused to halt its strikes on Russian oil refineries. Kyiv has since complained of disruptions to U.S. intelligence-sharing and restrictions on its access to Starshield, the military-grade version of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite network.

Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Washington had resumed providing advance warnings of Russian missile attacks after his Oslo meeting with Witkoff. Ukraine nevertheless continued to face Starshield restrictions, and it remained unclear who had ordered them. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Musk had personally ordered the slowdown, while Reuters, citing sources, said the directive had come from inside the White House.

Putin also emphasized the prospects for closer economic ties after the war, suggesting that Moscow could significantly increase its fertilizer exports to the American market. Russian officials said the first tanker carrying diesel to the United States would depart Thursday as part of an initial shipment of about 300,000 tonnes. Energy analysts and traders questioned whether Trump’s agreement to temporarily resume Russian diesel imports would deliver meaningful relief for American consumers ahead of the midterm elections; they said the volumes involved were too small to significantly ease the global supply squeeze.

MSI previously reported that Trump told Putin he was prepared to help end the Ukraine war, according to a Kremlin adviser. Since then, Witkoff has carried proposed peace ideas to Putin in a face-to-face meeting, while the reported gaps over a ceasefire and Moscow’s Donetsk demand remained unresolved.