U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as "a humanitarian" following the release of U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard on Wednesday. During a meeting in St. Petersburg, Witkoff thanked Putin for freeing the American — whom the U.S. government had declared wrongfully detained — and lauded the Russian autocrat, who ordered the ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost five years ago. Witkoff was in Russia as Trump administration and Russian officials were set to have talks focused on the Ukraine war.