Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The remark was prompted by Putin releasing an American citizen from Russian detention.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to the Constantine Palace on Wednesday to press the Kremlin on a trilateral framework for ending the war in Ukraine. His counterpart Jared Kushner joined by video link after falling ill with the flu, The Moscow Times reported.
In the room, Witkoff reached for a word rarely applied to the Russian leader. “You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that. I commend you,” he told Putin, according to video from the meeting cited by Ukrainska Pravda.
The remark landed less than a week after United Nations monitors published their monthly tally. The Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine recorded 328 civilians killed and 2,105 injured in September alone, the highest September figure since Russia’s full-scale invasion began.
A record month of attacks
The September toll was 85 percent higher than the same month a year earlier, when 249 civilians died and 1,068 were wounded. Long-range missiles and drones drove more than half of the harm.
Kyiv alone logged 32 deaths and 340 injuries, with civilian casualties recorded on 22 of the month’s 30 days. Monitors also note the real toll in Russian-occupied areas is likely higher because they lack access to verify many reports.
What was on the table
Witkoff arrived in St. Petersburg from talks in Oslo with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Washington is pushing a trilateral “technical level” format focused on post-war security guarantees for Ukraine and Russia; Ukraine accepted the framework at the Oslo meeting on Tuesday, Al Jazeera reported.
The envoy praised Putin as a humanitarian for releasing Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired Michigan teacher jailed in Russia for more than four years on mercenary charges and designated by the US State Department as wrongfully detained. Putin said Hubbard was already preparing to board a flight home.
The Kremlin has indicated that follow-up talks could take place in Abu Dhabi as early as next month.
