President Vladimir Putin (left) chairs a meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff (second right) at Constantine Palace in St Petersburg. (EPA Images pic)SAINT PETERSBURG: Russia said Wednesday it was ready to resume trilateral talks with Ukraine and the United States after Vladimir Putin met a US envoy and freed a detained American - but Moscow played down the chances of a deal to end the conflict.
US president Donald Trump said it was "the closest we've been" to ending the war while his envoy Steve Witkoff praised Putin as a "humanitarian" for freeing US citizen Stephen Hubbard.
But the Kremlin warned after Witkoff's meeting with Putin in Saint Petersburg that there was little "substance" in the Ukrainian and European peace proposals that the US diplomat brought with him.
