Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff Wednesday to discuss new proposals for ending the war in Ukraine, amid Washington's latest push to stop Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.
The talks in St. Petersburg, Witkoff's ninth meeting with Putin, included a goodwill gesture from Russia: the release of a retired U.S. schoolteacher held in Russia.
The encounter prompted 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 after President Donald Trump promised in his election campaign to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.
Witkoff flew into St. Petersburg Wednesday morning, a day after conducting what a U.S. official called "constructive" talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the leaders of Finland and Norway, and European and NATO representatives. 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, which he said would help lower prices in the United States.
Since the diesel deal, Ukraine has complained of disruption to some intelligence sharing and to its use of the Starlink military satellite system, though Zelenskyy said Tuesday's Oslo meeting had reached an agreement to resolve those issues.
Citing U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that billionaire Elon Musk ordered last week 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.
Musk has said any such decision is made by the U.S. military or the president. Trump has said he was not responsible. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signaled Tuesday that the problem lay in the terms of service Kyiv needed to comply with.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that Witkoff's meeting with Zelenskyy 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.
Despite the apparently cordial nature of Tuesday's meeting in Oslo, Trump, in comments Tuesday at the White House, remained frustrated with Zelenskyy, whom he has repeatedly rebuked and suggested should 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.
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 – received Witkoff in the Constantine Palace, an imperial edifice in his home city.
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's special investment envoy and his key liaison for potential economic and financial deals with the U.S., also attended the meeting with Witkoff, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
A U.S. official said Ukraine brought new ideas and proposals to the Oslo talks, which made "meaningful progress" toward a coordinated approach to engaging with Russia.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the talks covered "key elements of a comprehensive peace framework," including security guarantees for Ukraine, a postwar economic plan and a broader European security architecture.
Witkoff aimed to "create a pathway toward direct trilateral and broader multilateral negotiations," the official said. Zelenskyy 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-Zelenskyy meeting would need to be painstakingly prepared by aides to make it worthwhile and that much legwork would be required for an overall agreement.
Trump said Tuesday he raised the idea with Putin of freeing Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired U.S. schoolteacher being held in Russia on mercenary charges he denies.
Putin told Witkoff that Hubbard was at the airport waiting to fly back to the U.S. with him. Witkoff thanked Putin for the goodwill gesture.
Hubbard was first detained in April 2022 and later sentenced to six years and 10 months on charges whose veracity his family and U.S.-based lawyer question.