Putin-Witkoff talks: Russia frees Stephen Hubbard as Ukraine talks loom

By Ahmet Taş | Wise News Press

ANKARA, TURKEY — Russia freed American Stephen Hubbard on the day President Vladimir Putin met US envoy Steve Witkoff, after which the Kremlin said it was open to renewed talks with Ukraine and the United States.

The meeting near St. Petersburg followed Witkoff’s discussions with Ukrainian and European officials in Oslo a day earlier. Moscow’s announcement raised the prospect of another negotiating round, but the parties have not announced a joint date, accepted a peace proposal or agreed to a ceasefire.

Kremlin signals readiness for three-way talks

Putin and Witkoff met on 21 October at the Constantine Palace outside St. Petersburg for approximately three hours. Afterward, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said Putin was prepared in principle to resume talks involving Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiating teams.

The proposed meeting would take place at a technical level. Ushakov said its central subject would be security arrangements for Russia and Ukraine after the war. Abu Dhabi was mentioned as a possible venue, although the three governments have not jointly confirmed a location.

The distinction between agreeing to talk and agreeing on terms remains substantial. The Kremlin did not say it had accepted the proposals Witkoff brought from Oslo. Nor did the meeting produce an announced halt to fighting, a timetable for one or a settlement of the territorial and security disputes that have held up previous negotiations.

Oslo proposals reach Putin

On 20 October, Witkoff met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Oslo. The talks also involved Norwegian and Finnish leaders and representatives from Europe. According to the Ukrainian presidency, participants discussed security guarantees for Ukraine, reconstruction after the war and wider European security.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine wanted the United States to take its ideas to Russia. Kyiv has sought guarantees strong enough to protect the country if the fighting stops, while also pressing for measures that could reduce attacks sooner. The Oslo discussions covered an energy ceasefire as well as longer-term arrangements.

Witkoff presented ideas from those contacts during his meeting with Putin. Jared Kushner, another envoy of US President Donald Trump, joined the St. Petersburg discussion remotely. A US official cited by the Associated Press said the American side proposed bringing representatives of all three countries together at the technical level.

Moscow’s initial assessment was guarded. Ushakov said the Oslo proposals did not fully satisfy Russia, although he later described them as a possible step in the right direction. The substance of any revised proposal has not been published by all three parties, leaving the scope for compromise unclear.

Kyiv wants an earlier meeting than Moscow suggests

Ushakov said new talks could take place after 10 November. Zelenskyy, speaking after Witkoff’s visit to Russia, said Ukraine supported the US proposal to convene negotiating teams as soon as possible, preferably by early November.

According to Reuters, Zelenskyy said Kyiv had received feedback that Russia supported a meeting between the teams. He also voiced support for proposals concerning a ceasefire, an energy ceasefire and humanitarian measures.

Those statements indicate willingness to return to a negotiating format, while exposing a difference over timing. Neither an agreed schedule nor the membership of each delegation has been announced. A meeting of negotiators would also be different from the potential leaders’ meeting Zelenskyy has advocated for decisions that, in his view, require the presidents’ participation.

Russia, Ukraine and the United States held negotiating rounds earlier in 2026, including meetings in Abu Dhabi and Geneva. They reported little progress on the central terms of a settlement. Any new round will have to address disagreements that those earlier meetings did not resolve.

Stephen Hubbard released after more than four years

Separately from the proposed negotiations, Russia released Stephen Hubbard, a retired American teacher who had been held since 2022. Russian authorities accused him of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine and sentenced him in 2024 to nearly seven years in prison.

Hubbard’s lawyers dispute the allegation that he took part in military activity. The US government previously classified his detention as wrongful. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the American side had raised Hubbard’s case for some time, and Putin decided to release him on humanitarian grounds.

Hubbard met Witkoff after his release and was reported to be travelling to the United States. Trump said he had personally asked Putin to free him during a telephone call the previous week. The president also said Washington had not exchanged another detainee for Hubbard; that account reflects Trump’s statement, as the full details of the diplomatic contacts have not been made public.

Groups advocating for Americans held abroad welcomed Hubbard’s release while urging continued efforts for other US citizens detained in Russia. His case is a concrete outcome of the day’s contacts, distinct from the still unresolved negotiations over Ukraine.

Diplomacy proceeds while attacks continue

The renewed diplomatic activity comes as Russia’s war against Ukraine continues on the ground and in the air. Kyiv has repeatedly raised the need for air defence equipment and advance warning of Russian missile attacks alongside its calls for a negotiated end to the conflict.

Following the Oslo meetings, Zelenskyy said an early warning system for incoming Russian ballistic missiles was working again. The Ukrainian presidency said discussions with US officials also covered missile interceptors, intelligence and satellite communications. These immediate security concerns remain relevant even if negotiating teams meet next month.

For now, the confirmed developments are Hubbard’s release, the Putin-Witkoff meeting, Moscow’s stated willingness to resume three-way talks and Kyiv’s support for convening them quickly. Whether those positions produce a meeting—and whether a meeting can narrow the differences over a ceasefire and postwar security—remains to be seen.

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