Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Wednesday that Russia was 'in principle, ready to resume' the talks in mid-November, following a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff in Saint Petersburg. Ukraine quickly backed the proposal.
Page A219From§Eachthe evening edition — 22 October 2026
THE HUMANITARIAN
Trump credits the sanctions he waived for producing the talks he says enforcing them would have blocked.
As it ran on the front
The chief lays out the job again: a law signed, then waived the evening before it was due to bite. On September 19, Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, named for the senator who pushed it before he died in July. The waiver landed the day before the statute took effect — the tool built, boxed, and set down before it ever touched the machine. Hours after the waiver, Russia hit Ukraine's power grid with more than 320 drones.
The planner walks the file back a week to see where this was headed. On October 9, Putin phoned Trump to propose a three-way summit with Xi Jinping, the Wall Street Journal reported. Ten days later the Guardian's editorial board warned that Russia wants America and China deciding Ukraine's future with Kyiv left out of the room — "a dangerous return to diplomacy of the strong for the strong." In between, on October 16, with the energy ceasefire Trump had announced on September 14 already collapsed, Trump called Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian refineries "a disgrace" and said Zelenskyy was harder to deal with than Putin.…
…(cont) The tinkerer gets to the mechanism itself. On October 21, envoy Steve Witkoff sat down with Putin in St Petersburg. Russia freed Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old former teacher held more than four years on mercenary charges, with no swap attached. Witkoff called Putin, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, a "humanitarian" for it. Former U.S. ambassador John Herbst went on CBS the same week and called the word "fatuous."
The muscle swings at the load-bearing wall: Trump is still crediting the sanctions he waived with producing a release they never touched. The statute sat in the toolbox through the drone strikes, through the waiver, through the humanitarian line, doing nothing it was built to do, while Graham's name on it did the work of sounding tough.
The pilot gets it to the date the Kremlin already put on its own calendar. By October 22, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Russia was "in principle, ready to resume" trilateral talks in mid-November. Ukraine backed the proposal. The sanctions law sits exactly where it sat on the 19th: signed, waived, uninvoked — and still, somehow, getting the credit.
“This is the con in two acts: sign a law tough enough for the cameras, then wave it the night before it can touch a dollar. The man it was built to squeeze hands back one prisoner and gets called a humanitarian for it, while the statute sits in the drawer doing nothing it was built to do. That's not a swap, that's a discount Putin wrote himself, and Graham's own name is on the receipt.”
“Look, the ambassador gets his guy home, that's a win, that's — that's not nothing. The sanctions, the waiver, that's just sequencing, you don't want to spook the talks right when a hostage — I mean a detainee, I mean a prisoner — is about to come home, did I say hostage, that's not the word we use. The point is diplomacy worked, and the law's still right there whenever we need it, which, I grant you, is sort of the problem, but that's not what I meant.”
Earlier in this story
- Ukraine's only leverage against Russia, cut by its own satellite provider, ends in a freeze offer. By Lou · the afternoon edition, 21 October 2026
- Trump waives Russia sanctions he signed, then calls enforcing them the thing that would have stopped Hubbard's release. By The Wrecking Crew · the afternoon edition, 21 October 2026
- Starshield slowdown Rubio insisted wasn't deliberate was, CBS sources say, Musk's own deliberate choice. By Lou · the morning edition, 21 October 2026
- Rubio insists Patriots weren't "deliberately denied"; Hegseth admits "our guys" need them too. By Lou · the afternoon edition, 20 October 2026
- Rubio says Patriots weren't 'deliberately denied'; Zelensky asks for the ones Washington still won't release. By Lou · the morning edition, 20 October 2026
- Purge spares senator bribery probe; his namesake sanctions law waived next, Tillis calls it 'beyond irresponsible' By Mitch · the morning edition, 20 October 2026
The receipts
US president says Zelenskyy ‘more difficult to deal with than Putin’ after ‘energy ceasefire’ collapses Europe live – latest updates Donald Trump has called Ukraine’s renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries “a disgrace” and criticised Volodymyr Zelenskyy after an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine failed to take hold.…
"I'll meet with Putin. I'll meet with Zelensky... And within 24 hours, that war will be settled" - Trump, 10 May 2023; CNN counted 53 such promises CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
US citizen Stephen Hubbard freed by Russia as Trump envoy meets PutinThe 74-year-old former teacher, who was captured in 2022, has been released without any "swap" required, Trump says.
Trump promised Putin-Zelensky talks would settle the war within 24 hours - CNN counted 53 separate such promises CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Putin proposing summit with Trump, Xi in push to end Ukraine war: WSJRussian President Vladimir Putin is proposing a three-way meeting with President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next month to discuss the war in Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal Reported. Putin proposed the summit during a phone call with Trump on Oct. 9, the Journal reported, citing a Russian intelligence officer briefed on the…
Russia frees Stephen Hubbard after US request while Steve Witkoff praises Putin, wanted by ICC as war criminal, as a ‘humanitarian’ Vladimir Putin ordered the release of an American man from a Russian jail as he met Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg on Wednesday for fresh talks on ending the war in Ukraine, amid…
Russia wants America and China to decide Ukraine’s future without Kyiv. Europe must challenge this dangerous return to diplomacy of the strong for the strong Does Vladimir Putin know exactly how to play Donald Trump? The history of chummy phone calls, high-profile meetings and attempts to bring Russia in from the cold certainly suggests…
Trump promised he'd meet Putin and Zelensky and settle the war within 24 hours — CNN counted 53 such promises CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Former U.S. ambassador says Putin is a war criminal, calls Witkoff's comment "fatuous"Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst joins "The Daily Report" to discuss Steve Witkoff's comment that Putin is a "humanitarian" following the release of an American citizen from a Russian prison.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.