Witkoff to Putin: ‘You are a humanitarian … I salute that’

Steve Witkoff, the United States’ special envoy, praised Russian ruler Vladimir Putin during face-to-face talks in St. Petersburg, calling him “a humanitarian.” “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 posted on social media. Witkoff’s visit is the latest U.S. attempt to bring Moscow and Kyiv to the negotiation table, four-and-a-half years after the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The American envoy met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Oslo on Tuesday, and is expected to propose trilateral talks between the two leaders and U.S. President Donald Trump. Russia’s strikes on Kyiv and Kharkiv continued overnight, killing three people, local mayors reported. Putin’s assault on Ukraine killed 328 civilians in September alone, according to the United Nations, while Kremlin forces bombard energy infrastructure across the country heading into winter. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin in 2023 over the forced transfer of children to Russia after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine began.