Putin meets Trump's envoy in St. Petersburg over a Ukraine peace plan

Vladimir Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff met for nearly three hours in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, the Kremlin said. The talks came a day after Witkoff met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo.

"We brought some documents; they are in fact some ideas on the different elements of a kind of peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine."

— Steve Witkoff, US envoy

Russia freed Stephen Hubbard, 75, an American sentenced in 2024 to seven years in prison for mercenarism. Donald Trump said Hubbard was on his way home and was released with nothing in return.

Russian diesel on the first tanker to the US

40,000 tonnes

The first tanker carrying 40,000 tonnes of Russian diesel to the United States will leave in two to three days, Putin said. The deal, announced by Trump in early October, lifted sanctions on Russia.

Zelensky welcomed the return of US intelligence sharing and asked for a seat at any talks on his country's future. Fighting goes on along the front, with no major advance by either side.