Russian President Vladimir Putin met U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, and afterward the Kremlin said Moscow is “generally ready” to resume three-way peace talks with the United States and Ukraine in early November, even as it dismissed much of what Witkoff brought as unhelpful. Russia also released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American held for more than four years, shortly before the meeting began.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin and Witkoff “specifically discussed a potential framework for resuming trilateral negotiations.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would study the proposals Witkoff delivered, but cautioned that the talks would take a long time and called progress toward a negotiated resolution “theoretically possible.” Ushakov was more pointed about the substance, saying the proposals, which he attributed to Ukraine and the European Union, “contained little that was useful in the context of resolving the Ukrainian crisis.” Before the session, Russian officials had said Moscow’s position and demands had not changed, and Russian state media said headway would require Ukraine’s leaders to make “necessary decisions,” with TASS quoting officials warning that Ukraine’s situation “will be worse” if it does not.
Witkoff told Putin he hoped to discuss resuming trilateral talks, which could include technical working groups of specialists to sort through details, and said he had brought “several documents outlining approaches” to a settlement for Putin to review later. He described the previous day’s discussions in Oslo as productive. “I believe the talks were productive,” he said, adding that there was “progress.”
Those Oslo talks brought together Witkoff, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the leaders of Norway and Finland, and representatives from France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, the European Union and NATO, where the U.S. and its European partners discussed a unified framework for ending the war. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Oslo conversations positive and said the U.S. would share the ideas with Russia. Witkoff planned to return to Oslo after Russia to consult with European officials again.
The Hubbard release was the most tangible result of the day. Hubbard, a U.S. citizen, was seized by Russian troops in eastern Ukraine in April 2022 and had been jailed since. Putin announced the release at the start of the meeting, telling Witkoff, “He is at Pulkovo Airport.” The U.S. has maintained that the charges against him were fabricated, and Trump had personally asked Putin to free him. Trump wrote on Truth Social that “there was no ‘swap’ necessary for this release,” saying the United States gave nothing in return. He also said, according to CBS News, that the release would not have happened if Washington had not blocked new Russia sanctions from taking effect the previous week.
That sanctions decision has drawn attention. Around Oct. 17, Trump waived new Russia sanctions and tariffs on major buyers of Russian energy under the Graham Act, following a separate waiver intended to allow more Russian diesel to reach the market, as Farm Policy News reported. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia will send its first diesel tanker to the United States on Thursday, carrying 40,000 metric tons. The administration has framed energy waivers as a response to record U.S. diesel prices, while critics are likely to argue they ease pressure on Moscow at a moment when Russian forces continue to strike Ukrainian cities.
The war itself has not paused. Overnight Russian attacks on energy facilities in four regions killed four people, two in Kyiv and two near Kharkiv, according to Ukrainian officials, who said power facilities in the Kyiv, Volyn, Odesa and Mykolaiv regions were hit. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it struck three cargo vessels in the port of Reni and two bound for Odesa, along with logistics hubs in Volyn and Khmelnytskyi. A Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s Bryansk region killed a 19-year-old man and injured two others, the regional governor said.
Behind the diplomacy sit tensions between Washington and Kyiv. Trump said this week that “it’s time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine,” a remark that drew attention given Zelensky’s insistence on a seat at the table. Zelensky has said the next step should be a meeting among himself, Putin and Trump, a format Russia has so far rejected. He has also said he rejects any deal crafted by China, Russia and the United States without Ukraine, and that any agreement would need approval from Ukraine’s parliament. Russian officials told Witkoff a meeting among Trump, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping was “possible,” per state media, and Putin raised a possible meeting with Trump in China in mid-November, according to Axios. Ukrainian officials have objected to that idea because it would sideline Kyiv from discussions about its own future.
Military supplies add pressure. Zelensky has said Ukraine has nearly run out of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors, and he offered a 30-day halt on strikes against Russian oil refineries in exchange for more. In a 45-minute call with Zelensky, Rubio said Trump has issued no order to harm Ukraine but acknowledged that deliveries of Patriots already paid for by NATO countries could be delayed because the U.S. needs the systems for its own bases, according to a Just Security summary of reporting. The Washington Post reported that the administration has not approved transferring the interceptors Ukraine needs.
Europe is also bracing. The European Union plans to press Canada and the United Kingdom for more Ukraine support to help fill a €70 billion funding gap for next year, with key summits set for Oct. 29-30 with Canada and Nov. 20 with the U.K. U.S. intelligence also assesses that a failed drone attack on Germany’s Leipzig-Halle Airport this summer was an early step in a broader Russian covert campaign against NATO allies.
For now, the picture is mixed. Moscow has signaled a willingness to talk in November and delivered a goodwill gesture on Hubbard, but it has also dismissed the Ukrainian and European proposals, held its demands steady, and kept up its strikes. Whether the early-November talks materialize, and whether Ukraine has a full seat at them, will determine if Wednesday’s meeting marks a genuine opening or another round of diplomacy that moves faster than the war’s underlying positions.
