Zelenskyy on Meet the Press Sunday. [NBC News]
Witkoff Lauds Putin as a ‘Humanitarian’ – After meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Oslo Tuesday, real estate developer/White House special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to Vladimir Putin’s announcement he had released US political prisoner Stephen Hubbard, 74, The Kyiv Independent reports. Despite his age, Hubbard was sentenced by a closed court in 2024 to nearly seven years in prison for allegedly joining a Ukrainian territorial defense unit in Izium, Kharkiv Oblast after Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
"You speak so much about how my president, President Trump, is a humanitarian," Witkoff told Putin.
"You, too, are a humanitarian, sir, and I commend you for that. I offer you my respect and thank you once again," he told the Russian dictator/leader, whom The Kyiv Independent notes is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes against Ukraine.
Putin later said that Russia is ready to resume trilateral peace talks with the US and Ukraine.
President Trump welcomed back Hubbard on his social media site, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Trump wrote: “There was no ‘swap’ for this release. This major return should have taken place long ago by the Biden administration, which got nowhere in its negotiations with the Kremlin.”
And so it goes for a peace deal.
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Cost of Gas and Diesel – National average for a gallon of unleaded regular slipped 1.42 cents from Tuesday to $4.2644 Wednesday, AAA reports. That’s $1.29844 more expensive than on February 27, cusp of the US-Israeli war on Iran. After a slight increase Tuesday, diesel is down a quarter of a penny -- 0.25 cents -- Wednesday to $6.3174. That’s up $2.604 from AAA’s March 5 average.
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Jr. v. Trump – Donald Trump Jr. has long been among the most prominent attack dogs for his father on X-Twitter and on right-wing broadcasts. But since his father and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began the war on Iran at the end of February, Don Jr. and President Donald J. have privately been at odds, The Atlantic Daily reports, citing two people who have spoken directly with Trump the younger.
“The president’s son, these people said, opposed the war from the outset and made his opposition known to his father,” the magazine reports.
Don Jr. was also very close to the late Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, who also had broken with the White House on the war. –TL
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TUESDAY 10/20/26
More Ceasefire Talk – White House special envoy Steve Witkoff has landed in Oslo for talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Axios reports. Meetings to perhaps reach a ceasefire agreement that offers some concessions to Ukraine while President Trump has lifted the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act he signed September 18 are to include Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, E4 nations’ representatives (the UK, France, Germany and Poland) and representatives from the European Union and NATO.
This comes after Trump said he is open to meeting with Russian and Chinese counterparts (without Ukraine) in Moscow as he continues to criticize Zelenskyy and call for his removal, and has held up the transfer of Patriot interceptors to Ukraine (per Semafor).
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Alberta Won’t Go – Is this President Trump’s first midterm loss? Albertans roundly rejected a referendum that would lead to the province’s separation from Canada with about 75% voting ‘no,’ the Edmonton Sun reports. The vote on the province’s second binding referendum was part of a 10-question ballot reported late Monday due to extended voting at some polling stations that had experienced delays.
Alberta is Canada’s richest province, rated number four for known global oil reserves and probably its most conservative. Separatists have met earlier with Trump administration officials, according to the BBC (51st state?).
Premier Danielle Smith has scheduled a televised address to the province for 6:45 p.m. Mountain time.
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Minor Gas Relief – National average for a gallon of unleaded regular slipped 1.67 cents from Monday to $4.2786 Tuesday, AAA reports. That’s $1.2986 more expensive than on February 27, cusp of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Diesel rose 0.12 cents Tuesday to $6.3199 per gallon, or $2.5629 higher than AAA’s March 5 average. –TL
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MONDAY 10/19/26
On Handing Russia the Win -- Even Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) objected, though carefully and politely, to President Trump’s executive order issued last weekend waiving the bipartisan bill he signed into law September 18 named for the senator’s late brother, and meant to financially stifle Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s drone attacks on Ukraine.
“I look forward to talking to him” about the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, Sen. Graham said Saturday, The Hill reports. She spoke carefully and politely because she is running for a full six-year term for her Senate seat.
“The president and I share the same goal, which is to end the war, get gas and diesel prices down,” Graham said. “The sanctions bill is one of the tools he can use to do that. It’s up to him whether or not he chooses to use it.”
Lowering diesel prices in time for the November 3 midterms is Trump’s stated goal in lifting sanctions against Russia. It is also Trump’s latest indication of his fondness for Putin and for his propensity to appease Russia’s interests going back at least to 2016, including antipathy toward NATO.
“I find it more difficult to deal with [Ukrain President Volodymyr Zelenskyy] than Putin,” Trump said, providing a sort of update of “I have President Putin, he just said it’s not Russia” that interfered in the 2016 presidential election. “I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
On Sunday’s Meet the Press, Zelenskyy told NBC News’ Kristen Welker he always seeks to be “very clear, very honest and very supportive” of Ukraine’s strategic partners. By lifting sanctions against Russia, Trump is financing Putin’s war against Ukraine by un-freezing assets as well as allowing Russia to sell gas globally, Zelenskyy said, but Putin will not succeed because Russia, facing a determined Ukrainian army, has not found success on the battlefield.
“But I can’t applaud any decision or any words of any leader if they go against Ukraine,” he said.
Zelenskyy demurred on Welker’s question of who is responsible for Starshield (the military component of Elon Musk’s Starlink) throttling Ukraine’s defense system to a 161 kp/h (100 mph) limit. This has made it impossible for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s Iranian-designed Shahed drones capable of 450-500 kp/h or more, according to Zelenskyy. Starshield throttled Ukraine’s system late last week.
According to a report in The Telegraph, Musk approached Trump about slowing down Starshield in Ukraine.
The Upshot … Zelenskyy says he wants to reach a ceasefire deal with Russia so long as Russia stops attacking Ukraine. He said he expects to meet with US negotiators in the coming week.
Meanwhile, Ukraine drones hit an oil facility, bridge and data center in St. Petersburg overnight, as Russia continues to attack civilian buildings and locations, and launched “one of its largest attacks” on Ukraine’s energy grid, according to The Kyiv Independent.
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About Gas and Diesel Prices – Unleaded regular gas average $4.2953 per gallon Monday, AAA reports, for savings of 3.18 cents compared with last Friday’s prices. That’s $1.3153 more per gallon than on February 27, just as the US-Israeli war on Iran started. Diesel is $6.3187 Monday, 0.74 cents lower than Friday and $2.5617 per gallon higher than on March 5. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa