Witkoff leaves Russia without a breakthrough — Putin wants Donbas, rejects ceasefire, but wants US economic deals now
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff left St. Petersburg this week without the breakthrough Washington had hoped for. According to Witkoff and Kushner’s readout to the State Department, the Kremlin’s position has not moved: Moscow is not ready to end the war, only to keep talking about it. Putin rejects any ceasefire, energy-related or general, while signaling he’s open to discussing “future arrangements” — a distinction that, in practice, means the strikes continue.
Putin’s conditions remain as far from Kyiv’s as ever. Sources describe a Russian position built on full control of Donbas, with no ceasefire on the table until Ukraine hands over what’s left of that territory. Moscow also rejects Western security guarantees for Ukraine outright, offering instead to discuss “a new security architecture for Europe” — one that would include guarantees for Russia itself, not for the country it invaded.
Separately from any peace deal, Putin wants economic agreements with the United States, and he wants them now, without tying them to an end of the war. On the ground, this means business as usual: Russia has no plans to stop its strikes and intends to keep hitting Ukraine’s military-industrial capacity and its energy system.
The visit did produce one result, just not the one Kyiv needed. The same day Witkoff met Putin, Russia released 74-year-old American citizen Stephen Hubbard, held since shortly after the 2022 invasion and sentenced in 2024 on mercenary charges. Trump announced it personally, saying he’d asked Putin for the release in a phone call the week before and that Washington “gave nothing” in return — this just days after he waived sanctions on Russia and agreed to buy Russian diesel.
So Moscow offers drawn-out talks instead of real concessions, while Washington leans on economic incentives to try to move Putin toward peace. Witkoff said he hoped Putin would agree to a trilateral meeting with Zelensky and Trump; Russian state media reported the Hubbard release but gave no sign Putin agreed to that idea. The Kremlin instead appears to be angling for a Putin-Trump meeting in China next month — with Ukraine not at the table at all.
Witkoff praises Putin as a 'humanitarian' following Russia's release of U.S. prisoner Stephen Hubbard
Russia released U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard, 74, on October 21, following a visit to Moscow by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, Russian state media outlet Vesti reported.
Hubbard was sentenced to prison by a Russian court in 2024 for allegedly fighting alongside the Ukrainian military, despite his advanced age. Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced Hubbard's release during his meeting with Witkoff, saying the American had already been taken to the airport, according to Vesti.
U.S. President Donald Trump later confirmed the release in a social media post, saying he had asked Putin to free Hubbard during a phone call the previous week.
Witkoff praised Putin for the decision, describing the Russian leader as a humanitarian. "You speak so much about how my president, President Trump, is a humanitarian," Witkoff said. "You, too, are a humanitarian, sir, and I commend you for that. I offer you my respect and thank you once again."
The remarks came two days after Trump made comments that appeared to downplay Russia's war against Ukraine. On Oct. 19, the U.S. president said Russia had "been fine" in Ukraine and "haven't been doing much," despite continued Russian attacks killing civilians.
Hubbard had reportedly lived in Ukraine since 2014. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, he allegedly joined a territorial defense unit in Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, before being captured by Russian forces several months later.
A Russian court sentenced him on mercenary-related charges, reportedly after he pleaded guilty. However, his sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, and another relative questioned the confession in an interview with Reuters in September 2024, saying Hubbard held pro-Russian views and was unlikely to have taken up arms at his age. The U.S. State Department has designated him as wrongfully detained.
Russia has repeatedly imprisoned Western citizens in cases that critics say can later.
Russia agrees to trilateral talks — but Zelensky isn’t betting on it
Russia has agreed to a trilateral meeting of delegations from Ukraine, the US and Russia, President Zelensky said, with Washington pushing to hold it as soon as possible. The stated goal is to prepare the ground for a three-way summit between Trump, Zelensky and Putin.
The delegations are expected to discuss a ceasefire — including one limited to energy infrastructure — along with a prisoner exchange, security guarantees, and Ukraine’s reconstruction with European participation.
Zelensky was careful not to oversell it. Russia, he pointed out, has agreed to talks like this before and then changed its position or scrapped the meeting entirely. “We’ll see how it goes this time,” he said
Ukraine and Russia accept proposal to resume trilateral talks
A U.S. official says Ukraine and Russia have agreed to resume trilateral negotiations with the United States following separate meetings in Oslo and St. Petersburg, European Pravda reported, citing Axios.
The official said U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner proposed a technical-level meeting involving all three countries, which both sides accepted. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said after the talks with American envoys that Russian President Vladimir Putin was prepared to resume talks around Nov. 10, potentially in Abu Dhabi.
Ushakov said the negotiations would focus on establishing a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the war. He also claimed that Ukrainian strikes on Russia on the day of parliamentary elections had led to the cancellation of an earlier round of talks, adding that the Oslo discussions had yielded little useful progress toward resolving the war.