Trump says he asked Putin to release American Stephen Hubbard
Donald Trump said on Tuesday he has raised with Russian president Vladimir Putin the issue of Stephen Hubbard, a retired American school teacher held by Moscow, and hinted that a development in the case could happen soon.
Trump made the comment to reporters in the Oval Office as US envoy Steve Witkoff prepared to go to Moscow for more talks about Ukraine after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo on Tuesday.
In his remarks, Trump piled more pressure on Zelensky to make a deal with Russia to end Moscow’s four-year war in Ukraine.
“Ukraine has to want to settle this war,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Trump suggested Moscow had the upper hand in the fight because “Russia is a big machine – they just keep grinding forward, and that’s what they’ve done. They’ve taken a very large piece of land.”
(Moscow City Court press service/)
Trump, asked about the case of Hubbard, said he had been talking to Putin about the American, who has been declared wrongfully detained by the State Department.
“Just stick with me,” said Trump. “I don’t want to talk about it, but everybody has been after Hubbard for a long time, long before I got here. And just remember that question for a couple of days from now, okay? Because I do things that nobody else can do. “
“Watch what happens. We have been focused on Hubbard,” he said.
Hubbard, 74, is serving a nearly seven-year sentence in a Russian penal colony on mercenary charges.
Shweta Sharma21 October 2026 06:50
Russia hits cargo vessel, electric power substation in Ukraine
The Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday its drones had hit a cargo vessel carrying military cargo to Ukraine en route to the port of Odesa, hours before US envoy Steve Witkoff’s meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg.
The ministry also said its forces had hit a warehouse complex used for drone storage in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava, and an electric power substation which supplies power to Ukrainian defence and industrial sector as well as logistics centres in Kyiv.
Shweta Sharma21 October 2026 06:36
US envoy Witkoff to meet Putin in Russia
US special envoy Steve Witkoff is travelling to Russia to meet president Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Wednesday to discuss proposals on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Witkoff is to meet Putin a day after meeting president Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo.
The US official has said that Ukraine brought forward new ideas and proposals to the Oslo talks, which also involved the leaders of Norway and Finland and European and Nato representatives, and that participants made “meaningful progress” toward a coordinated approach to engaging Russia.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the talks covered “key elements of a comprehensive peace framework,” including security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-war economic plan and a broader European security architecture.
Witkoff would aim to “create a pathway toward direct trilateral and broader multilateral negotiations,” the official said.
Shweta Sharma21 October 2026 06:00
Zelensky says he had ‘constructive dialogue’ with the US
Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine and the US had a “constructive dialogue” following his talks in Oslo with Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.
In a social media post, Zelensky said: “Today we discussed security guarantees, and I’m thankful to the American side for underlining again that they have to be strong.”
“There are different kinds of security guarantees on paper – in the document – which Steve will share with the Russians. We will hear his feedback afterwards,” he said.
Zelensky also had a call with Marco Rubio, who is travelling to India.
He said the two spoke “about sensitive issues such as Starlink, ballistic missile interceptors, and intelligence”.
“We were very concrete and the conversation was positive,” he said.
“It was constructive because all of us want peace – Ukraine, Europe, the United States.”
Shweta Sharma21 October 2026 05:50
Musk ordered slowdown of Starlink in Ukraine, report says
Elon Musk last week ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service that Ukraine relies on, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing US officials and people familiar with the matter.
Ukraine uses Starlink for battlefield communications and drone operations.
Restricting the satellite service hampered the country’s attack and air defence drone missions against Russia.
Musk and US president Donald Trump discussed the Starlink decision in a call soon after the slowdown became public, while the president was campaigning last week, according to the report, which added the two had also discussed the matter prior to the decision to throttle Starlink.
According to a Reuters report, the order to limit the satellite system came from inside the White House.
Trump said last week he did not think either he or Musk was responsible for Ukraine losing Starlink access, while Musk said any limits on speed or Starship use were decided by the US military or the president.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s relations with Washington have sunk to new lows after Trump announced a deal to buy Russian diesel and waived new sanctions on Moscow. Trump has also told Kyiv to stop attacking Russian refineries and urged Ukrainians to replace Zelensky.
Zelensky, who is in Oslo in a bid to repair US relations, said on Tuesday he discussed issues including “the situation with Starlink/Starshield, which needs to be restored” with US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday Washington had not pulled back Ukraine’s ability to access Starling’s satellite network, but signalled the problem lay with the terms of service Kyiv needed to comply with.
Musk is yet to respond to the allegations.
Shweta Sharma21 October 2026 04:50
Russian drones kill two people near Ukraine’s Kharkiv overnight, governor says
Russian drones killed two people near Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv overnight, Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram on Wednesday.
Another 11 people suffered stress reactions in the attack that struck private houses and caused other damage, he added.
Shweta Sharma21 October 2026 03:51
Watch: Trump rift escalates as Rubio rages at ‘scandalous’ claims about US intelligence
Trump rift escalates as Rubio rages at ‘scandalous’ claims about US intelligence
Maira Butt21 October 2026 03:00
Witkoff to meet Putin on Wednesday, say US officials
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, a US official told Reuters.
The report followed Witkoff’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Norway on Tuesday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Ukraine brought forward new ideas and proposals and the goal in discussions with Putin is to build on progress made with Ukraine and Europe and discuss the proposals with Russia.
Maira Butt21 October 2026 02:00
Analysis: Trump has finally abandoned the West for Putin. This is what the UK and Europe must do next
This is the moment when the West must stand apart and stand up to the US administration. Russia’s president has a proxy in the White House who seemingly acts entirely and only in the interests of Russia.
The Kremlin is an active enemy to Europe, and beyond. And so it is time for Nato’s European countries, Canada, Japan, South Korea and for the leaders of the free-thinking world to shut down and stop Trump’s ludicrous plan.
He, his secretary of state and “secretary of war” have all insisted that the US has given “hundreds of billions” to Ukraine’s war effort and “got nothing back”. The US has not given that much and, since Trump came to power, has given no military aid. Joe Biden gave and authorised about $127bn. Europe and the UK have given about $260bn in assistance.
The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley reports:
Maira Butt21 October 2026 01:00
The key moments that have shaped Trump and Zelensky’s rocky relationship
Relations between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky have reached a new low after the US president tore up sanctions on Russia and struck a highly controversial deal to purchase Russian diesel.
The latest fracture followed months of careful positioning by the Ukrainian president and his allies in Europe to avoid upsetting Trump and the US abandoning the country altogether.
But with Ukraine facing another brutal winter of Russian strikes, Washington’s commitment to sharing vital intelligence and interceptor missiles is again in question.
And where Zelensky would once have tried to court the American president with open displays of praise and gratitude, this time he has stood his ground.
As US special envoy Steve Witkoff meets the Ukrainian president in Oslo in a bid to repair ties, The Independent looks back on the key moments that have shaped the rocky relationship between the two leaders:
James Reynolds21 October 2026 00:01
