DOMINANT ANGLE
Warsaw weighs the implications of Witkoff's mission in terms of its risks for Europe: the release of an American is a gesture by Moscow, but the idea of a Putin-Trump-Xi summit is unsettling.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Witkoff and Putin meet in person for the ninth time since the envoy's appointment as chief negotiator (Rzeczpospolita).
- 02
Stephen Hubbard, 74, sentenced in October 2024 to six years and ten months in a penal colony, was released by Russia (RMF24, Rzeczpospolita).
- 03
Putin proposed discussing a summit with Trump in China; Peskov deemed the comparison with Yalta "totally out of place" (Rzeczpospolita).
ANALYSIS
Warsaw, October 21, 2026. The Polish press is following Steve Witkoff's two-part mission. On Tuesday, in Oslo, Donald Trump's emissary met in person with Volodymyr Zelensky; Jared Kushner participated remotely, as he allegedly - "rzekomo", according to RMF24 - contracted the flu. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb were present. Stubb stated that the discussions allowed for the development of certain elements of a peace agreement, to be presented on Wednesday in Saint Petersburg. Zelensky expressed gratitude towards Washington for restoring access to intelligence.
Rzeczpospolita specifies that the exchanges in Oslo focused on security guarantees for Ukraine after the war, and a US official cited by Reuters deemed them "constructive". The newspaper recalls that Donald Trump said it was time for Ukraine to end the war, or else it would face "something very bad".
On Wednesday, Rzeczpospolita reported on a gesture from Russia that the US President had requested: the release of Stephen Hubbard. RMF24 recalls that this 74-year-old man was sentenced in October 2024 to six years and ten months in a penal colony for mercenarism; Russian services claim he joined the Ukrainian territorial defense in Izyum in February 2022 and was taken captive in April 2022. According to NYT, cited by RMF24, the mission aimed to show the interest in agreements with Moscow.
At the beginning of the meeting, Vladimir Putin thanked the Americans for their engagement and expressed interest in restoring economic relations with the United States. He proposed discussing a summit with Donald Trump in China. This is the ninth in-person meeting between Witkoff and Putin since the former's appointment as chief negotiator. Dmitri Peskov deemed the comparison of such a summit to Yalta "totally misplaced".
The newspaper also relays German concerns: a Putin-Trump-Xi summit would, according to German media, be "a catastrophe for Ukraine at war and all of Europe". RMF24, on the other hand, emphasizes that the agenda does not concern only Ukraine, but "perhaps above all US interests".
