Russia frees jailed American Stephen Hubbard during Witkoff talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the release of US captive Stephen Hubbard during talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.

Hubbard had been taken captive by Russian forces on charges of being a mercenary, which he denies. He was sentenced to seven years in prison at a closed trial in 2024.

Putin said Hubbard was at the airport and Witkoff said he was now "going home to his family."

US President Donald Trump later said he had made the request directly to Putin during a phone call last week.

"The United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return — an unprecedented situation for Russia," Trump claimed in a post on his Truth Social platform. "There was no 'swap' necessary for this release."

However, in a follow-up post, Trump also claimed that "numerous people" had called him to apologize after they criticized him for suspending a new round of sanctions, which he said was a necessary concession.

"If sanctions would have been placed, certainly those negotiations would have come to a complete and total halt," Trump's post said.

The release of Hubbard was seen as a goodwill gesture to the Trump administration as the two sides discuss a deal for peace between Russia and Ukraine.

"We've brought some papers. It's really some ideas, some sort of peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, and you'll read that at your leisure," Witkoff told Putin.

After the talks, the Kremlin said Witkoff's proposals "lacked substance" and would not be of real use for a potential peace settlement.

However, Putin agreed "in principle" to resume peace talks with Russian, Ukrainian and US delegates after November 10.

Such talks should focus on "building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict ends," Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said.

Putin also proposed that Witkoff discuss the restoration of bilateral ties between Washington and Moscow.

Meanwhile, Putin appeared open to a potential trilateral meeting with Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

"A possible first-ever meeting of the leaders of China, Russia and the United States... is being prepared," Ushakov said.

The meeting — the ninth such talks between Witkoff and Putin — came a day after Witkoff met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Norway.

Zelenskyy on Wednesday called for freezing the front line as a first step toward ceasefire talks.

"Right now we have to freeze, and I think this is (the) real way to end this war. We call it ceasefire... freeze and stop," Zelenskyy said in an interview with "Fox & Friends."

The European Union, which was represented by delegates from several member states at the Oslo talks on Tuesday, said it expected to be debriefed by Washington after Wednesday's talks.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also said on Wednesday that Berlin was supporting Ukraine to end the war as quickly as possible, adding that any capitulation by Ukraine would be "a capitulation by all of us."

The Ukrainian leader remained in Oslo on Wednesday where met with lawmakers in the Norwegian parliament.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said that Witkoff planned to return to Oslo for further consultations after his trip to St. Petersburg.

"I think we may have entered a phase now where the Russians are also looking for opportunities for diplomacy," he told Norway's public broadcaster NRK on Wednesday morning.