envoy

Though the US president said a deal was ‘very close’, he gave no specifics and did not meet a visiting Ukrainian delegation.

US President Donald Trump has said that a deal between Russia and Ukraine may be imminent, following a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, at the White House.

“I think we’re going to be very close to settling Russia-Ukraine,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, while declining to disclose details of his conversation with Dmitriev.

“There’s going to be an agreement. It’s going to be a big agreement, and it’s going to involve more than Ukraine,” Trump said, adding that the effort could include “all of Europe”.

Trump has frequently predicted that an agreement to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II was close. Negotiations have, however, picked up in recent weeks.

Trump said he did not meet the Ukrainian delegation on Thursday.

The meeting between the US president and Dmitriev came after a diplomatic gathering hosted by First Lady Melania Trump, which brought Russian and Ukrainian representatives together to mark and build on the localised six-day truce she helped broker in the southern Ukrainian city of Oleshky in October. The US president did not attend the event.

The temporary ceasefire ran from October 27 to November 1 and allowed for the evacuation of nearly 800 civilians from the besieged, Russian-occupied city of Oleshky in Ukraine’s Kherson region, as well as the delivery of critical food and medical supplies.

Senior officials from both countries attended on Thursday, including Dmitriev; Yana Lantratova, Russia’s human rights commissioner; David Arakhamia, leader of the Servant of the People party in Ukraine’s parliament; and Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s parliamentary human rights commissioner.

Melania Trump also spoke at the event, which the White House described as “the first time in American history that a First Lady has personally brought representatives of two nations at war to the White House for diplomacy”.

“Together, we can create something more enduring than a temporary ceasefire,” she said, urging both sides to see the humanitarian truce in Oleshky “as a spark in a world of darkness”.

The first lady presented Putin’s and Zelenskyy’s representatives with large white envelopes and asked them to deliver her personal letters to each leader. Dmitriev presented her with a painting by an 11-year-old girl, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent her the Order of Princess Olga, a Ukrainian award recognising her role in the ceasefire.

Not too long ago, when it came to dealing with Maduro & Co., Ric Grenell was considered a key figure in Washington DC. As the US braced for Trump’s second coming, Grenell was even deemed a contender to lead the State Department. The president opted for Marco Rubio, but created a new diplomatic post exclusively for Grenell: the Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions, which had a Special focus on Venezuela and North Korea.

Given the leeway some middlemen retain in the Trump White House, Grenell’s debut was the subject of widespread speculation about who would ultimately command the Venezuela portfolio. Days into the second Trump presidency, while Maduro secured his last inauguration with an iron fist, Grenell arrived in Miraflores to meet with the dictator and his political strategist, Jorge Rodríguez, who looked delighted. Grenell left Caracas with six US citizens Maduro had held hostage, which he framed as a resounding diplomatic victory, though many more American prisoners were still left behind. He soon reaped a reward: Trump appointed Grenell to manage the Kennedy Center, an ideal hub to sow political and financial connections through grandiose social events. The president even wanted to rename the venue after himself. Grenell—widely considered a “MAGA insider”—emerged as an ideal ally to seal Trump’s imprint on the institution. It didn’t last long.

Twenty months later, he lost the job at the Kennedy Center and currently has no place in the current arrangement between Trump and Delcy Rodríguez.

Since last week, Grenell has been embroiled in a scandal of a multimillion-dollar, international dimension, which goes back to his Kennedy Center tenure. It speaks of the network of friends and contacts he had access to when empowered vis-à-vis the chavista clique. The New York Times characterizes the unfolding saga as “bitter even for Trump-era standards.” As it stands, the episode is yet another example of the broad discretion and opacity that US officials have claimed for themselves to navigate relations between Washington and political elites in Caracas, Balkan capitals, and beyond.

The Mildons and a misplaced transaction

The saga gained attention when news broke about the wedding between Trump’s former personal lawyer Alina Habba, 42, and Turhan Mildon, an obscure Turkish investor in his 20s with ties to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Mildon started to operate in Venezuela’s construction industry when Maduro was still in power, after a seemingly lucrative experience in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Love and business drew him to Caracas, the Middle East Eye reported in September: Mildon was then in a relationship with the daughter of Remigio Ceballos, a powerful chavista military commander, while he partnered with the Venezuelan State to revive as many as 10 unproductive cement plants.

His facilitator in Caracas was no other than Alex Saab, the disgraced moneyman of Maduro who is now in US custody.

According to New York Times reporters, Mildon not only lobbied Saab for the “Vencement” deal, but also took over a once-successful shrimp exporter Maduro seized in 2024. The company’s original owner is imprisoned in Venezuela.

Regarding Mildon’s new romance, he told the MEE that he met Habba some time ago through a mutual friend, “an ambassador in the US.”

The public fallout between Habba and Grenell surfaced last week, involving allegations over political favors in exchange for a multi-million-dollar contribution that was never registered. Axios first reported that Habba stormed into the Oval Office to tell Trump that Grenell persuaded Mildon, her new husband, to wire a $17.6 million donation to the Kennedy Center last year via a third-party’s bank account. Grenell denied the allegation on the spot, challenging the Mildons to submit proof.

Caracas Chronicles reached out to Grenell’s camp for comment on these developments and any reflections on his work in Venezuela, including whether he remains in contact with government officials under Delcy. We haven’t received a response. A Venezuelan opposition source who closely monitors Alex Saab’s legal case and business dealings declined to comment at this stage.

On Monday, Axios gave us an idea of the kind of evidence that Mildon’s lawyers are handing over. Grenell reportedly texted Mildon that the transaction would secure access to US officials, maybe even the president himself, through “VIP events” at the Kennedy Center. Grenell also offered to make him “the American face down in V,” which sounds like he saw Mildon as a potential poster child for US business interests in Maduro’s Venezuela.

Axios reports that a private defence company called TXAT allegedly received the payment. The transfer would not come from Mildon’s bank account, but from an account linked to the Congolese Ministry of Finance.

While revelations pile up and the Mildons build their case before President Trump, Grenell keeps witnessing his own change of luck, which began in the second half of last year, with the US military deployment in the Caribbean, and continued with Maduro’s ousting on January 3.

A bad streak

“I understand what he [Maduro] wants. I believe we can still have a deal. I believe in diplomacy, I believe in avoiding war,” Grenell claimed on September 17, 2025, during the CPAC international conference in Asunción, Paraguay.

Grenell already looked out of the loop. It was the early days of a US military campaign a few kilometers away from Venezuela, which had the stated purpose of dismantling narco-trafficking networks in the region. Grenell had become a champion of a supposedly mutually beneficial cooperation with the chavista elite in previous months. In contrast with the likes of Rubio and Mauricio Claver-Carone, Grenell pushed for the normalization of relations between the Trump administration and the Maduro regime. He portrayed his in-person meeting with Maduro and Jorge Rodríguez as a sign of what his approach could achieve. Soon, the US began deporting Venezuelan migrants and detainees in charter flights to Maiquetía, which Grenell could publicize as proof that his plan was working.

Analysts and reporters speculated over which idea would prevail: Grenell’s pitch that working with Maduro was the safe bet, or Rubio’s insistence on revoking the Chevron license and gutting the regime of financial resources. Soon enough, a tougher sanctions regime would isolate Venezuela. Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth grabbed the spotlight. Grenell found himself sidelined, but kept insisting his approach was the right one. 

“I continue to talk to Maduro’s team,” Grenell told CBS after returning from CPAC, which featured the likes of presidents Santiago Peña and Javier Milei, and right-wing commentator Javier Negre, a Spanish media figure whose visibility in “Twitterzuela” has grown for praising Delcy Rodríguez and criticizing María Corina Machado’s camp.

Donald Trump shut Grenell down via telephone two weeks later, according to The New York Times, in the middle of an Oval Office meeting with senior military leaders. Grenell reportedly received orders to cease all communications with Maduro’s camp.

The aftermath of January 3 would further push him out. Rubio took an active role in handing instructions and often dealing directly with Delcy Rodríguez. In March, Grenell was relieved of his duties as president and executive director of the Kennedy Center. He formally retains the “Special Missions” post, but has stayed off the radar while other names (Claver-Carone, Alejandro Betancourt, Chris Wright and Jarrod Agen, to name a few) gained prominence over the Caracas dossier.

The unlucky colleagues

A string of successive scandals has also affected other Trump administration officials, who had to resign from their posts last week. Evidence available from open sources indicate two of them are close to Grenell.

The latest example is Katie Zacharia, the shortest-serving Press Secretary in the history of the White House. Following a clumsy first (and last) press briefing, Zacharia faced scrutiny over the false claim that she was an attorney. Some quick fact-checking from US media and observers found that Zacharia was neither licensed to work as counsel in the US nor that she worked as a lawyer in China, as she alleged at some point. Her LinkedIn page says she served as “general counsel” for Fix California, a non-profit that Grenell launched in 2021. The organization is focused on voter registration and advancing conservative causes in the Golden State, the liberal stronghold run by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom—a constant target of Grenell’s attacks on social media.

Last year, Zacharia appeared twice in conservative media hailing Grenell’s work in Venezuela. On Fox News Night in February 2025, she recounted how Grenell supposedly forced Maduro to give in:

People didn’t know these hostages [American political prisoners in Venezuela] were in Venezuela. He asked Maduro: “I want these six hostages,” and he said, “Oh, I don’t have them.” And Ambassador Grenell said: “I need them, I’m gonna go back to the airplane and you’re gonna get them for me.” And the regime brought them to him…

The other disgraced ally of Grenell is Kimberly Guilfoyle, the ex-fiancée of Donald Trump Jr. (and Gavin Newsom’s ex-wife), who served as the US ambassador in Athens until last week. Guilfoye’s dismissal was actually the only news Katie Zacharia shared during her only presser.

Guilfoyle, whose fondness for parties and luxury was no secret, faced rising scrutiny in September. The Wall Street Journal reported that a Greek-American lobbyist had become a constant presence alongside her in official meetings across the Balkans, promoting energy deals with a Greek construction company. Then, the same journalists found that Guilfoyle asked a Trump donor to pay her $100,000 credit card bill just before her confirmation hearing. Despite some initial denial, the episode went on to exhaust Rubio and Trump, who forced her to resign last week.

The president also fired Paolo Zampolli last week, who served as special envoy for global partnerships. A longtime modeling agent, Zampolli is credited with introducing Donald Trump to Melania in 1998.

Public records show that Grenell has also had interests in Southeastern Europe, where association with pro-Russian autocrats and involvement in controversial deals continue to dog MAGA and Trump’s own inner circle. Having served as special envoy for Kosovo-Serbia negotiations during Trump’s first term, Grenell maintains a close relationship with Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia’s increasingly authoritarian leader, who recently resigned the presidency to run for prime minister in a bid to further entrench his power. After leaving that post, Grenell advocated for a major luxury complex in central Belgrade backed by Jared Kushner’s investment firm.

In Romania, Grenell drew scrutiny for publicly opposing proceedings against internet personalities Andrew and Tristan Tate, who face severe criminal charges including human trafficking and rape across multiple jurisdictions.

Grenell, Machado and the Rodríguez siblings

A Venezuelan opposition insider suggests Grenell’s sidelining helped put an end to media noise about the Trump administration pursuing a diplomatic and commercial understanding with Maduro in 2025. 

Grenell  first came into contact with Maduro associates in 2021, when Florida politician David Rivera and Raúl Gorrín coordinated a backchannel meeting in Mexico City between Jorge Rodríguez, Grenell and Erik Prince. Delcy’s brother offered to swap six American prisoners for Alex Saab, then in US custody for the first time. Rivera, who couldn’t make it to the encounter, faces a decade in prison for secretly lobbying on behalf of Maduro during Trump’s first term—an operation orchestrated by Delcy Rodríguez, who finally achieved an understanding with Washington this year.

Grenell was perceived as a nuisance for regime-change ambitions among many opposition figures and observers. María Corina Machado had contact with Grenell in early 2025, but the relationship soured before long. Two senior members of Machado’s team were approached for a comment on Grenell’s role and relationship with their camp. Neither has replied so far.

Grenell reportedly sought to meet the opposition leader in person while she was hiding in Venezuela. The New York Times reported that she refused to provide a list of political prisoners who Grenell could prioritize during negotiations with chavista representatives. Grenell later voiced his displeasure when Machado won the Nobel Prize instead of his boss, claiming in a tweet that the award had “died years ago.”

Now, both Machado and Grenell appear to lack Trump’s confidence. But Machado is expected to find her way back to Venezuela, one way or another, while Grenell could face disgrace, deprived from the opportunity of providing access to the investment rush “down in V.”

Oct. 21, 2026 4:33 AM PT

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Russia on Wednesday released a retired American teacher who had been imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.

The release of Stephen Hubbard had been foreshadowed a day earlier in Washington, when President Trump told reporters at the White House that he had talked with Putin “at length” about the issue and had asked him to free the Michigan man.

Hubbard is the second American detainee in just over two months to be freed by Russia, and his exit from custody occurred not only during a visit by Witkoff but also at a time when Trump has taken a series of actions meant to benefit Russia as Washington’s alliance with Ukraine shows signs of fraying.

Hubbard was sentenced after a closed trial in 2024 to nearly seven years in prison. Prosecutors said he had signed a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, and that he fought alongside them until being captured two months later. The U.S. government under the Biden administration designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained.

Witkoff, a key Trump administration envoy who has tried without success to steer Russia and Ukraine toward a settlement to end a war that will hit the five-year mark in February, thanked Putin for releasing Hubbard, telling him, “Because of you, he’s going home to his family.” The Russian leader responded that Hubbard was at the St. Petersburg airport, Pulkovo, after the release.

The release occurred at a dynamic moment in relations between the United States, Ukraine and Russia, with the Washington-Kyiv alliance being stretched by tensions over drone support as the Trump administration advances policies that aid Putin.

Trump decided Friday, for instance, to waive sanctions on Russia in a bill that Congress overwhelmingly passed to support Ukraine. Named after late South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, the legislation targeted the flow of financial resources fueling Russia’s war.

That reversal followed Trump’s announcement of a deal to import Russian diesel fuel in a long-shot effort to curb high gas prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections next month.

Witkoff met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Norway on Tuesday. He was expected to exchange ideas from that meeting, as well as proposals from European and American colleagues, in his talks with Russian leaders in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.

Hubbard is the second American freed by Russia in about the last two months, following the release in August of Marine veteran Robert Gilman, who had been gravely ill and was imprisoned on disputed charges of assaulting a police officer.

Some two dozen Americans remain imprisoned in Russia for various reasons, according to the Foley Foundation, a hostage advocacy organization.

Hubbard had been imprisoned since 2022 on charges that Hostage Aid Worldwide, a hostage advocacy group, has called bogus.

The organization in August posted an open letter to Trump that it said was written by Patricia Hubbard Fox, Hubbard’s sister, in which she offered praise for Trump but also said brother had been subjected to “constant beatings, torture and starvation” while in custody.

“Even so, everything that you’re doing isn’t going to matter to my kidnapped, American Veteran brother, Stephen James Hubbard (soon to be 74) if Putin won’t cave and let him come home and he dies up there in a Nazi prison (crying),” the letter said.

Litvinova and Tucker write for the Associated Press. Tucker reported from Washington.

Addressing the issue of US intelligence sharing after Tuesday’s talks, Zelensky said he was “thankful that intelligence works now”.

“Speaking about early warning, which is very important for our people, our children, adults, civilians because we can hear when ballistic[s] is coming – so we are thankful to American side, now it works, it’s great,” the Ukrainian president said.

He said he also hoped for a good result on SpaceX’s Starlink satellite access as well, after Ukraine’s military had reported in recent days speed restrictions on the US platform used by Kyiv to carry out drone strikes against Russia.

Before the Oslo talks, Zelensky said he had had a “constructive discussion” with Rubio about the need for US early warnings, missile interceptors and Starlink.

Last week, a bipartisan group of US senators called for an urgent investigation into speed restrictions to the Starlink network in Ukraine.

And Zelensky also restated that Ukraine was “ready for negotiations” to end the war.

“Of course, we are not losing this war, but we are losing people because Russia attacks,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader added that “strong” security guarantees for Ukraine were also discussed in Oslo, as well as energy ceasefire proposals.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who also took part in the talks, stressed that Europe “needs to be at the table” during any discussions about how to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Unconfirmed reports earlier on Tuesday said the transfer of more US-made Patriot interceptor missiles – the only effective weapon in shooting down Russian ballistic missiles – had not yet been approved.

Rubio, who is currently on a visit to India, admitted to reporters that it may be true that Patriot interceptors had not yet arrived in Ukraine – but he stressed that nothing had been denied to Kyiv intentionally.

European leaders meanwhile have expressed concern about recent US statements from the US towards Russia.

On Monday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke of “mixed pictures and messages” on the war, adding that he was trying to convince the American government “in total that this is something we have to resolve jointly”.

“It’s really a big effort for our budgets, it’s really a big thing for the European Union, but we are doing that and we are trying to keep on doing that until this terrible war ends,” the German leader told Bloomberg TV.

Asked during an interview on Monday whether or not he saw Ukraine as a US ally, US Vice-President JD Vance said Kyiv was “certainly a partner in some ways, but we have some divergent interests from time to time, like for example… I think they should stop bombing Russian energy”.

“We don’t have a formal alliance as far as I know with Ukraine. They’re not in Nato, I don’t think they should be in Nato… we’re gonna work together on some things, but also we’re going to be opposite on some things too,” he said.

Doha, Qatar — The United States is moving away from its traditional security-for-oil relationship with the Middle East and no longer seeks to dominate the region, senior US diplomat Tom Barrack has said.

However, it was not abandoning the Middle East, he added, speaking at the Global Security Forum in Doha on Tuesday — but rather reassessing its role, after years of attempts to reshape governments across the region.

“The US no longer wants to own,” said Barrack, who serves as US Ambassador to Turkiye and Special Envoy for Syria. “The bargain is not to control, but to not leave. We’re not leaving.”

Barrack acknowledged that regional countries were increasingly recognising the limits of US involvement.

“Everybody is saying: OK, I can’t rely on America to solve all my problems,” he said.

Barrack questioned the effectiveness of previous interventions, saying that the US had been involved in 23 regime changes across the wider Middle East.

“Every time we try and intervene, change the person or the regime, it seems to have been a mistake,” he said.

His comments come as Washington and Tehran try to negotiate an end to the US-Israeli war on Iran that has destabilised the region and disrupted global energy supplies.

Political analyst Luciano Zaccara described Barrack as probably “the most realistic of Trump’s allies” in his assessment of US involvement in the Middle East.

He told Al Jazeera that Barrack had effectively acknowledged that regime change, one of Trump’s stated objectives in the war on Iran, was unlikely to succeed.

Zaccara said Barrack’s reference to regime changes in the Middle East was an acknowledgement “that what the US has been doing in the region has not been working, regardless of which administration it was”.

According to Zaccara, Barrack had stopped just short of suggesting that Trump needed to retreat from “the maximalist demands” he had made of Iran.

US-Iran negotiations ongoing

Qatar says negotiations between Tehran and Washington are continuing despite growing fears of renewed fighting.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed al-Ansari, speaking separately at the Global Security Forum, said mediators were continuing to exchange messages between the warring parties, with regional partners involved in efforts to reach a deal.

“We are working between the parties, continuing our job as mediator with our partners and others in the region,” he said.

Al-Ansari said the lack of public information about the negotiations should not be interpreted as a lack of progress.

“The fact that we’re not hearing about it is a good sign that we’re doing our job properly,” he said.

The diplomatic efforts come as Iran’s seven-day proposal to end the war remains on the table, with the US yet to give its response.

The plan envisages reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resuming nuclear negotiations in exchange for US concessions, including lifting the naval blockade on Iranian ports and easing economic sanctions on Tehran.

Analyst Negar Mortazavi said the diplomatic door remained open, but negotiations were stalled over the terms and sequencing of an agreement.

“Tehran wants to end the war, but it is not prepared to surrender under military or economic pressure,” she told Al Jazeera on the sidelines of the forum in Doha.

The Strait of Hormuz remains a major flashpoint, with attacks on commercial shipping raising concerns over global energy supplies. Before the US-Israeli war on Iran, one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies transited through the strait.

Mortazavi said the escalation was part of Tehran’s strategy to maintain leverage against Washington despite its military disadvantages.

“Iran’s leverage has diminished but has not disappeared,” she said. “Moving tankers is not the same as restoring safe, predictable and normal maritime traffic.”

According to Mortazavi, Tehran wants to increase the economic and political costs of the war for Trump, while signalling to future US administrations that military action against Iran carries consequences.

But she warned that continued escalation posed serious risks to Iran and the wider region.

“Ultimately, neither military escalation nor economic pressure is likely to produce Iranian capitulation,” she said.

Fighting in Yemen

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson also reaffirmed Doha’s support for Riyadh in the fighting against Yemen’s Houthi armed group, saying it backed Saudi Arabia in “defending their sovereignty against this attack”.

Fighting intensified in September after the Houthis seized areas along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, including the port city of Mocha. In response, forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognised government launched an offensive, dubbed “Dawn of Yemen”, on October 4, backed by Saudi air strikes.

The Houthis have retaliated with missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and military installations. Strikes on Riyadh’s King Khalid international airport earlier this month killed at least 14 people and wounded hundreds.