Donald Trump’s special envoy told Vladimir Putin he was a “humanitarian” as they met in St Petersburg to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine, hours after Russian drones killed two elderly residents and injured children in Kharkiv.
“You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian,” envoy Steve Witkoff told the Russian president on Wednesday. “You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that, I commend you, and I thank you again.”
The remarks came as Witkoff arrived in Russia’s second city to review new ideas to end the conflict, just days after president Trump signed a controversial energy deal with Putin and forced open a rift with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
Putin said on Wednesday he was willing in principle to resume talks with Ukraine and the US next month, but would want to focus on security guarantees for Russia after the conflict ends, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
Despite overtures towards a ceasefire, Russian forces overnight into Wednesday attacked the village of Korotych in Kharkiv Oblast with drones, killing two elderly residents and injuring 11 people, including two children, according to local authorities.
The key moments of Trump and Zelensky’s rocky relationship
Relations between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky have reached a new low after the US president tore up sanctions on Russia and struck a highly controversial deal to purchase Russian diesel.
The latest fracture followed months of careful positioning by the Ukrainian president and his allies in Europe to avoid upsetting Trump and the US abandoning the country altogether.
But with Ukraine facing another brutal winter of Russian strikes, Washington’s commitment to sharing vital intelligence and interceptor missiles is again in question.
And where Zelensky would once have tried to court the American president with open displays of praise and gratitude, this time he has stood his ground.
The Independent looks back on the key moments that have shaped the rocky relationship between the two leaders:
Inside Ukraine’s strange rift with a Nato ally over North Korea
The unusual public confrontation between Ukraine and South Korea has raised questions about how relations between two nations facing the consequences of growing Russian-North Korean military cooperation deteriorated so sharply. Shweta Sharma reports
Putin says Russia has freed US citizen, 74, jailed since 2022
Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Moscow has agreed to free the imprisoned US citizen Stephen Hubbard following a plea from US president Donald Trump.
Mr Hubbard, 74, had been held in Russian custody since April 2022 and was serving a nearly seven-year prison sentence in a penal colony for allegedly fighting on behalf of Ukraine, charges he denies.
Putin told US special envoy Steve Witkoff that the former schoolteacher was at the St Petersburg Pulkovo airport and waiting to fly back to the US with him. Witkoff thanked him for the goodwill gesture.
Read the full story:
Russia is willing in principle to join new Ukraine peace talks in November, Kremlin says
Russian President Vladimir Putin told US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday that Moscow is willing in principle to resume talks next month with Ukraine and the US on ending the war in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
No such talks have taken place since February.
Ushakov said the negotiations should focus on security guarantees for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict ends.
Ukrainian soldier ‘cut off own leg’ to survive on frontline before miracle drone rescue
The injured soldier airlifted from Ukraine’s frontline by drone cut off his own frostbitten leg in a desperate bid to survive, having spent more than a year alone in the kill zone before his dramatic rescue, according to reports.
Kostiantyn Vlasenko, 49, made history as the first person to be evacuated from a war-zone with a flying drone, as Russian UAVs and landmines made a conventional rescue impossible.
The rescue mission this month was the product of more than six months of preparation, coordinating helicopters, electronic warfare and artillery with the drone team on the ground, according to Ukrainian outlet Oboronka.
“The flight was calm, I mostly looked around the area,” the soldier told the outlet after his heroic rescue. “And when I landed, I felt safe and relieved - I would finally see my family soon. A special thank you to my clerk with the call sign ‘Lefty’ for spoiling me with goodies.”
The volunteer fighter from Kryvyi Rih, who was serving with Ukraine’s 30th Mechanised Brigade last summer, had reportedly spent 70 weeks stranded in Kharkiv oblast, reliant on airdrops of food, cigarettes and a Stephen King novel, until his evacuation on October 4.
Watch: Trump says Ukraine has to want to settle war
Zelensky says he supports ceasefire and trilateral talks with US and Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he supports talks between the leaders of Kyiv, Washington and Moscow.
Speaking to FOX News, he said that he hoped that Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff would have positive talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
He said it was important to have a freeze in the fighting and move to diplomacy and toward an agreement that includes security guarantees, praising Trump's call for ceasefires.
"It's important to negotiate trilaterally" with him, US President Donald Trump and Putin, he added.
Kremlin says journalists from 'unfriendly' countries to be allowed to attend Putin's annual presser
Journalists from countries Russia considers “unfriendly” will be allowed to attend president Vladimir Putin’s annual year-end press conference in December, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
“They will attend. Yes, [we will invite them] – as we always do,” Peskov told Russian state news agency TASS when asked whether media outlets from countries deemed unfriendly by Moscow would be invited.
The annual press conference will once again be combined with Putin’s “Direct Line” call-in show, during which he answers questions from Russian citizens.
The combined event, known as “Direct Line with Vladimir Putin: Year in Review”, will be held for the fifth time this year. The format was first introduced in 2020 during the Covid pandemic and revived in 2023.
Russia designates countries including the US, UK and EU member states as “unfriendly”, largely in response to sanctions imposed on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.
The exact date for the press conference has not been announced yet,
South Korea to recall some of its diplomats from Kyiv
South Korea will withdraw some of its diplomatic personnel from Ukraine amid worsening relations between Seoul and Kyiv over the disclosure of the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war (POWs), Yonhap news agency reported, citing Seoul’s foreign ministry.
“This measure was taken because we judged it necessary to facilitate an amicable resolution of the issue and restore trust between the two countries,” foreign ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon said, according to Yonhap.
The move follows South Korea’s decision to recall its ambassador to Ukraine on 8 October after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky publicly disclosed the transfer of the two prisoners to South Korea during his speech at the UN General Assembly on 23 September.
Seoul claims the announcement violated a confidentiality agreement between the two countries.
Trump hails Putin for releasing US citizen Stephen Hubbard
Donald Trump has posted on Truth Social to celebrate Vladimir Putin’s decision to release Stephen Hubbard, a US citizen who was formally designated as wrongfully detained in Russia for four years.
“Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family. The United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return – an unprecedented situation for Russia,” the post read.
Hubbard’s release comes after a number of US concessions towards Russia in recent weeks, including a deal signed by Trump to obtain diesel from Moscow.
Nonetheless, Trump claimed that “there was no ‘swap’ necessary for this release”.
“Welcome home Stephen, it’s great to have you back,” the statement quoted Trump as saying.