US special envoy Steve Witkoff complimented Russian dictator Vladimir Putin as a “humanitarian” during their meeting in St. Petersburg — as President Trump desperately tries to get Russia back to the negotiating table to end the Ukraine war.
“You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that, I commend you, and I thank you again,” Witkoff said Wednesday in a Russian state media video clip shared on social media.
The high praise for Putin came after Stephen Hubbard, a retired American teacher, was freed from a Russian prison where he had been imprisoned for over four years on charges he was fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine.
However, it also came after a Russian drone strike at a park killed beloved Ukrainian teacher Inna Mariukhna and her 1-year-old baby Angelina on Monday — with graphic images showing the baby dead in her stroller.
Four others were killed in the strike in Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine.
In September alone, Putin’s offensive killed 328 civilians as Russia bombarded Ukraine’s major cities and energy infrastructure, the UN reported.
Witkoff visited Putin in St. Petersburg’s Constantine Palace to discuss trade and how to end the grueling war, now in its fifth year since Russia’s massive invasion into Ukraine in Feb. 2022.
Russian officials confirmed afterward that Putin agreed “in principle” to resume trilateral meetings with Washington and Kyiv next month that could finally bring about an end to the war.
Future discussions will center on “building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict ends,” Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters.
Witkoff and Putin met with Ushakov and Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev also at the table. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the discussions by video.
Witkoff told reporters before their meeting, which lasted about three hours, that he would tell Putin about his talks yesterday with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo, which he described as “productive,” adding that “there is some degree of momentum.”
He also thanked Putin for lifting Russia’s ban on diesel exports — which outraged some US lawmakers after Trump announced he was purchasing 300,000 tons of Russian diesel to combat rising energy costs at home.
Zelensky has since revealed he is open to halting military operations on the front lines as part of a ceasefire while Kyiv and Moscow seek a diplomatic end to the conflict.
“Right now we have to freeze, and I think this is a real way to end this war. We call it a ceasefire … President Trump called it freeze and stop,” Zelensky said on Fox News Wednesday when asked if he would freeze everything the way it is “right now,” where he would still hold “75% or more of your country.”
“And of course, this is [the] minimum of what we need from Russia today – then of course we’ll go to President [Trump] and to Europeans and we’ll ask [for] security guarantees,” he added.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered some tough love to Ukraine on Wednesday, insisting that the country “would not exist” without US backing.
“If it were not for the assistance of the United States, including under the Trump administration, there would be no Ukraine right now,” Rubio told reporters on Wednesday during a visit to India. “Ukraine as a sovereign state would not exist.”
