U.S. envoy Witkoff meets with Putin in Russia amid report Musk throttled Starlink

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Oct 21, 2026 7:40 AM EDT | Last Updated: 20 minutes ago

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in a grand imperial palace on Wednesday to review new ideas on ending the war in Ukraine amid Washington's latest push to stop Europe's bloodiest conflict since the Second World War.

The talks in St. Petersburg in the Constantine Palace are the ninth time that Witkoff has met Putin in person, and come amid concerns in Kyiv and among its allies that the United States is backing away from Ukraine, at times holding back real-time intelligence on Russian attacks.

The talks in Russia began with ‌a goodwill gesture from Putin — the release of a retired U.S. school teacher, Stephen Hubbard.

The 74-year-old Michigan native was first detained in April ⁠2022 over allegations he had been manning a military checkpoint in Izyum, Ukraine, where he had resided for nearly a decade. Hubbard denied the charges but was later sentenced to six years and 10 ‌months in prison.

"You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that," Witkoff said in response to Putin, who has been subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant since 2023, for the alleged unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of people from Ukraine.

A first responder walks on debris at the site of an apartment building in Kyiv, which was damaged during a Russian drone strike, on Tuesday. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

Witkoff flew into Russia a day after ​conducting what a U.S. official called "constructive" talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the leaders of Finland ​and Norway and European and NATO representatives.

A real estate magnate like Trump, Witkoff had no diplomatic experience before last year. Democrats have raised concerns about the potential conflicts of interest for Witkoff and fellow envoy Jared Kushner, given their extensive global business interests.

Putin has shown few ​signs of compromising on his central war aims, which include full Russian control of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine and no NATO membership for Kyiv.

'Either the president was lying or Musk was lying'

U.S.-Ukraine ties have deteriorated sharply since Trump announced a diesel export deal with Russia earlier this month to help lower prices in the United States. High fuel ​costs since he launched strikes on Iran have hurt his Republicans ahead of midterm elections on Nov. 3.

Since the diesel deal, Ukraine has complained of disruption to some ⁠intelligence sharing and to its use of ⁠the Starshield military satellite system, though Zelenskyy said that Tuesday's Oslo meeting had reached an agreement to resolve ‌those issues.

WATCH | Chrystia Freeland on 'America's Munich moment':

Citing U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that billionaire Elon Musk had last week ordered the slowdown of the service, which is essentially a military-grade version of Starlink developed for the Pentagon.

Throttling the speed of the satellite service, according to Ukraine officials, hampers its ability to conduct strikes on Russian targets and to defend itself from Russian drones using its own interceptor drones.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California called for the Senate to compel Musk to testify under oath in the wake of the Journal's report.

"National security decisions should be made in our national security interests, and not based on the personal whim of an unstable executive," he said.

• Why Canadian Starlink subscribers (probably) shouldn't worry about U.S interference

• Starlink restrictions would hamper Ukraine's war effort. But the country can adapt, experts say

Musk has said any such decision is taken by the U.S. military or the president. Trump has said he was not responsible but "would like to find out" who was, in Monday comments. U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday ⁠the problem lay with the terms of service Kyiv needed to comply with.

"Either the president was lying or Musk was lying, but the decision to slow down satellite speed and access has life-or-death consequences for Ukraine," said Schiff.

At least 4 killed in Ukraine

Trump remained frustrated with Zelenskyy, whom he has repeatedly rebuked and suggested needs to be replaced, in White House comments on Tuesday.

"He's going to have to want to make a deal, because I don't think his people are going to stand for it any longer," Trump told reporters on the eve of the talks in Russia.

Ukraine held back for several days last week from hitting Russian oil refineries in deference to Trump's request to help with diesel costs, but has resumed strikes after Russia showed no sign of complying. Both sides have also struck data centres.

WATCH | Kyiv under siege:

Trump has said little about Russia's far more severe attacks on Ukraine.

"Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine," he said Monday.

Trump has had an often-contentious relationship with Ukraine's president, dating back to 2019 when he was impeached, but then acquitted, for pressuring Zelenskyy for a domestic political favour to discredit rival Joe Biden in exchange for military aid for Ukraine.

In fresh fighting, two Ukrainians over 80 years old were among four killed in overnight Russian attacks that also targeted energy facilities across four regions, officials said. The senior citizens were killed just outside the northeastern city of Kharkiv, while the two other fatalities occurred in Kyiv, where a drone slammed into an apartment building.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said Russia had attacked power facilities in the Kyiv, Volyn, Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, as well as civilian enterprises in at least two others.

Russia's defence ministry 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. It also said it had hit a ship carrying military cargo to Ukraine heading to the port of Odesa.

The strikes are part of a mounting campaign by Moscow to knock out the Ukrainian energy grid as winter approaches.