Putin hosts Trump envoy Witkoff for Ukraine talks, frees U.S. citizen held in Russia

President Vladimir Putin hosted U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in a grand imperial palace on Wednesday to review new ideas on ending the war in Ukraine amid Washington’s latest push to stop Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two.

The talks in St. Petersburg, the ninth time that Witkoff has met Putin in person, began with a goodwill gesture from Russia - the release of a retired U.S. school teacher held in Russia.

The encounter comes amid concerns in Kyiv and among its allies that the United States is backing away from Ukraine, at times holding back real-time intelligence on Russian attacks and hobbling Ukraine’s military communications.

The latest talks came more than two years since U.S. President Donald Trump promised in his successful election campaign to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.

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Witkoff flew into Russia’s second city on Wednesday morning a day after conducting what a U.S. official called “constructive” talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the leaders of Finland and Norway and European and NATO representatives, as President Donald Trump said it was time for Ukraine to end the war or face “a very bad thing.”

U.S.-Ukraine ties have deteriorated sharply since Trump announced a diesel export deal with Russia earlier this month to help lower prices in the United States. High fuel costs since he launched strikes on Iran have hurt his Republicans ahead of November legislative elections.

Since the diesel deal, Ukraine has complained of disruption to some intelligence sharing and to its use of the Starshield military satellite system, though Zelensky said that Tuesday’s Oslo meeting had reached an agreement to resolve those issues.

Starlink Speeds

Citing U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that billionaire Elon Musk had last week ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service that Ukraine relies on to track Russian ballistic missile strikes.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

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Musk has said any such decision is taken by the U.S. military or the president. Trump has said he was not responsible. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday the problem lay with the terms of service Kyiv needed to comply with.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Witkoff’s meeting with Zelensky was positive and that Witkoff would share the results with Russia. He also reiterated that Washington had not pulled back Kyiv’s ability to access Starlink.

“He will now, armed with those ideas, be able to go to St. Petersburg and share them with the Russian side, and let’s see if we can make some progress,” he said.

Trump pressure

Despite the apparently cordial nature of Tuesday’s meeting in Oslo, Trump, as he showed in comments in the White House on Tuesday, remains frustrated with Zelensky, whom he has repeatedly rebuked and suggested needs to be replaced.

“He’s going to have to want to make a deal, because I don’t think his people are going to stand for it any longer,” Trump told reporters on the eve of the talks in Russia.

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Putin, who has shown few signs of compromising on his central war aims, which include full Russian control of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine and no NATO membership for Kyiv, will receive Witkoff in the Constantine Palace, a grand imperial edifice in what is the Kremlin chief’s home city.

Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special investment envoy and his main point man for potential economic and financial deals with the U.S., would also be present at the meeting with Witkoff, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

A U.S. official said Ukraine had brought new ideas and proposals to the Oslo talks, which had made “meaningful progress” toward a co-ordinated approach to engaging with Russia.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the talks covered “key elements of a comprehensive peace framework,” including security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-war economic plan and a broader European security architecture.

Witkoff would aim to “create a pathway toward direct trilateral and broader multilateral negotiations,” the official said. Zelensky said he hoped to discuss key issues on how to end the war during a trilateral meeting with Putin and Trump.

The Kremlin has repeatedly said that any Putin-Zelensky meeting would need to be painstakingly prepared in advance by aides to make it worthwhile and that a lot of the legwork required for an overall agreement would need to be in place.

Trump said on Tuesday he had raised the idea with Putin of freeing Stephen Hubbard - a 74-year-old retired U.S. school teacher being held in Russia on mercenary charges he denies.

Putin told Witkoff that Hubbard was at the airport waiting to fly back to the United States with him. Witkoff thanked Putin for the goodwill gesture.

Hubbard was first detained in April 2022 and was later sentenced to six years and 10 months on charges whose veracity his family and his U.S.-based lawyer question.