Trump says end of war is closer than ever before

US President Donald Trump has said that an end to Russia's war against Ukraine is closer than ever before.

Source: Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne, citing Trump's statement

Quote: "The other day I was talking to Vladimir Putin about settling his war with Ukraine, which I think we're getting closer to, by the way, maybe now the closest we've been."

Details: Trump also commented on Russia's release of American Stephen Hubbard from prison on 21 October. Trump said he had asked Putin to release him and that the Russian leader had agreed.

Background:

• As reported previously, following his meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Oslo and Putin in St Petersburg, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff stated that discussions on ending the Russia-Ukraine war will continue in the form of trilateral negotiations at the technical level.
• Witkoff called Putin a "humanitarian" during his meeting with the Russian leader in St Petersburg on 21 October.
• The talks in St Petersburg began with the announcement of the release of US citizen Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired teacher from Michigan who had been designated by the US State Department to be wrongfully detained.
• Trump said he had asked Putin to release the American – and claimed that Russia demanded nothing in return.
• Zelenskyy said Russia supports a trilateral meeting at team level, with the date of the possible meeting still being negotiated.

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