Witkoff arrives in St. Petersburg for Putin talks, Kremlin aide says

Trump said on Tuesday that he wants Kyiv to make a deal with Moscow.

LONDON -- President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff landed in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on Wednesday morning, a Kremlin aide confirmed, ahead of a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Wednesday that Witkoff was set to meet with Putin at St. Petersburg's Constantine Palace "in the first half of the day." as quoted by Russian state media.

Witkoff traveled to St. Petersburg following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Norwegian capital of Oslo on Tuesday. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and Finnish President Alexander Stubb also attended the talks, which focused on ceasefire proposals to halt Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Witkoff's latest round of shuttle diplomacy comes amid intensifying White House pressure on Zelenskyy to make concessions to secure a peace deal with Moscow.

In recent weeks, Trump waived a raft of sanctions on Moscow and again blamed Kyiv for the lack of progress in U.S.-sponsored peace talks, even suggesting that Zelenskyy should be replaced as Ukrainian president.

On Tuesday, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the U.S. had received "nothing" for its support of Ukraine.

"Look, we have given tremendous amounts to Ukraine. We've got nothing back other than high diesel," Trump said. "We have given, probably, possibly, more money to Ukraine than almost anybody over the years, hundreds of billions of dollars. We've got nothing back, and the American taxpayers are tired of it. We want Zelenskyy to make a deal."

Witkoff arrived in St. Petersburg as the Trump administration was closing in on a deal that would see multiple Americans released from detention in Russia, two U.S. officials and another source familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The talks are centered on Stephen Hubbard, a 72-year-old retired teacher who is the only American held in Russia officially designated as wrongfully detained by the State Department, as well as several other U.S. citizens held by Moscow on what the administration believes are dubious charges.

Trump was asked on Tuesday to confirm if the U.S. is on the verge of a deal to free Hubbard, though he did not provide an update. However, Trump said he had spoken with Putin about Hubbard "at length" and "asked him to release him."

"Let's see what happens," Trump added. "I'd love to get him back."

ABC News' Joe Simonetti, Shannon K. Kingston, Fritz Farrow, Nicholas Kerr and Emily Chang contributed to this report.