Witkoff Called Putin a “Humanitarian”. Kyiv Was Hit That Night

Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s special envoy, called Vladimir Putin a “humanitarian” in St Petersburg on Wednesday, after Putin freed an American prisoner. Overnight, Russia fired more than 20 missiles at Kyiv, killing two people and injuring more than 30, according to Ukrainian authorities as reported by the Irish Times. On Thursday Downing Street rejected the word, the Kremlin named Abu Dhabi as the venue it is discussing for three-way talks, and Zelensky used the envoy’s word against him.

The site’s earlier piece covered the Oslo and St Petersburg meetings.

Downing Street rejected Witkoff’s “humanitarian” label for Putin within a day. Peskov named only Abu Dhabi as a venue and, per Anadolu, answered negatively when asked whether Putin handed over documents. Vance said Witkoff “feels optimistic” while the sides remain “too apart” on details. Zelensky said the strike showed “no real change” in Russia’s attitude.

The Sunday Guardian reported that Witkoff called Putin a “humanitarian” during their 21 October talks, and that Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired teacher from Michigan, was released from a Russian prison and flown to the United States. Ukrinform carried the same account. Neither gives the full sentence in which Witkoff used the word.

Zelensky said three of the ballistic missiles carried cluster warheads. “The choice of weapon was deliberate, the choice of target area was deliberate,” he wrote on X, according to the Irish Times. He added: “Almost immediately after another round of talks, Russia launched a pointed attack.” The Kyiv Independent reported that Zelensky later put the toll at two dead and 34 injured, five of them children, across Kyiv and the surrounding region.

In another post, Zelensky wrote that “Three waves of ballistic missiles have been launched at Kyiv by Russian ‘humanitarians’ since yesterday evening,” the Washington Examiner reported.

A Downing Street spokesperson was more direct. “We do not recognise that characterisation,” the spokesperson said, adding that “Putin has killed thousands of people, innocent Ukrainians and Russian soldiers,” per the Sunday Guardian.

Vice President JD Vance, speaking to reporters on the tarmac in Cincinnati on Thursday morning, said Witkoff “feels optimistic” after speaking with Ukrainian and Russian leaders in recent days. A deal has not been signed, he said, because the sides “have just been too apart on some of the details of that negotiation,” the Denver Gazette reported.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that Abu Dhabi is being considered for trilateral talks. Asked whether it was the main venue, he said: “At this point, we are talking about Abu Dhabi,” in the TASS report. Asked whether Russia’s team was preparing documents, he said: “Wait, you are getting ahead of yourself, do not do that.” Anadolu reported that he declined to disclose the content of Putin’s talks with Witkoff, answered negatively when asked whether Putin handed over documents, and said “megaphone diplomacy and public discussion of proposals could only be harmful.” Whether Putin attends the G20 summit in Miami has not been decided, Peskov said.

Zelensky also told CNN that a freeze would be a way “to cease fire, stop the killing, sit down, and talk,” and that “No one recognizes these temporarily occupied territories as Russian, and I think Russia understands that,” in a translated report by LIGA.net.

Witkoff spoke on Wednesday. The missiles hit Kyiv that night. Zelensky answered with Witkoff’s own word in quotation marks the next morning.

On Thursday Peskov said that proposals should not be discussed in public and gave a negative answer on documents. The site’s earlier piece quoted Witkoff on “substantial groundwork” for ending the war. Vance spoke of optimism and of sides “too apart” on details.

Syrus Solo Jin and Anton Ponomarenko of the Atlantic Council wrote on 21 October that “the Kremlin may view strikes on civilian targets as a tool to increase the diplomatic pressure on the Ukrainian authorities.” Their piece appeared a day before this strike and describes a pattern, not this attack.

Frederick Kempe, the council’s chief executive, wrote on 22 October that “Thus far, the president has approached Russia’s war on Ukraine as a transaction.” The prisoner release fits that frame: a concrete deliverable, thanked in public.

Zelensky’s freeze offer is a ceasefire along the current line with no recognition of Russian sovereignty.

Four markers will show whether Thursday’s statements turn into talks: a confirmed date and delegation list for Abu Dhabi, any Kremlin reply to Zelensky’s freeze offer, a White House position on Witkoff’s word, and Moscow’s answer on the Miami G20 invitation. Peskov said on Thursday that no decision on Miami has been made.

Until one of those appears, the record for this week is a prisoner release, a night of missiles and a venue with no date.