US envoy Steve Witkoff thanks Vladimir Putin for diesel deal at Ukraine talks in Russia

But first, the U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is in St. Petersburg today holding talks with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. The face-to-face meeting comes after he met with Ukraine's president and other European leaders in Oslo. Witkoff is due to return to the Norwegian capital after his visit to Russia. This as Washington seeks to breathe new life into U.S.-led efforts to end the war. It comes amid pressure from Donald Trump for Ukraine to make deal as the United States waived sanctions on Russian diesel exports your decision to remove export controls on diesel oil from Russia and to sell not just to the United States but also to the world at large in the midst of a of this economic shock um i think that was a really important that act on your part sir and we've brought some papers for you to look at it's really some ideas about the different elements of some sort of peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. For more on this story, we can bring in our international affairs editor, Ketevan Gogosani. Ketevan, great to see you. What do we know about this meeting and the tone of it, really? Well, two things. One is that Steve Witkoff was coming to this meeting after meeting with Vladimir Zelensky in Oslo just yesterday, and he said it during those opening remarks that that he was coming with some documents, with some elements from the Ukrainians to the Russians in order to find a way out and find a way to peace. The issue is we don't know exactly what those elements are. What did the Ukrainians actually propose that is maybe perhaps new that Witkoff would carry over to the Russians? There have been some quotes from U.S. officials in U.S. media about potential new security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-war economic plan, a question of broader European security. What we don't know is exactly what those are and also how the Russians are going to react, because over the last few months, you really haven't seen any sign from the Russians that they're willing to move on any of their own very critical demands that are also red lines for the Ukrainians. So we'll have to keep an eye on that and see if there are any elements as to what exactly we're talking about there. Then I'm coming to the point of the tone. It was very interesting how deferential Steve Witkoff was to Russia's Vladimir Putin. He thanked Vladimir Putin and said that Donald Trump was grateful for his decision to release diesel for the world instead of talking about the fact that this was a negotiation and that in return they got a lot of lifting of sanctions for the Russians. But I think the most clear part of that and how you see Vladimir Putin sort of riding high this wave over the past week or so of support from the U.S. while the U.S. sort of tenses up when it comes to Ukraine, the release of a wrongfully detained American citizen, Stephen Hubbard, that was just announced by the Russians. And thanking Vladimir Putin for that, Steve Witkoff said these words to Vladimir Putin. You are a humanitarian also, sir, being extremely grateful. We have to remember, obviously, that this is happening because this man was accused by the Russians of being a mercenary fighting for Ukraine in Ukraine in the middle of a war that was started by the Russian president. Indeed. Ketevan, thank you very much for that. Ketevan Gogosani there.