Trump touts Ukraine war progress: 'Probably the closest we've ever been'

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday (local time) that a resolution to the war between Russia and Ukraine was closer than ever.

Speaking at the White House while discussing the release of Steve Hubbard, an American held in Russia for more than four years, Trump said he had been talking with Vladimir Putin about ending the Ukraine war and believed a deal was drawing nearer. "Probably the closest we've ever been," he said, Yonhap reported.

The remarks came as Putin is pushing to convene a trilateral summit among the United States, China and Russia next month to work out a solution to the Ukraine war — a process that would exclude Kyiv.

However, with midterm elections approaching, the comments may merely reflect an effort to appeal to voters.

Trump also said China and Russia had exerted less influence over the Iran war than expected, calling that "very good," and adding that he did not want to "blow the deal" while a ceasefire agreement was within reach.

On Hubbard's release, Trump said he was "very, very grateful," adding that the Hubbard family was overjoyed. "We gave nothing for it, and that's very unusual," he said.

Trump had also praised himself over Hubbard's release on social media earlier that day.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said Steven Hubbard, who had been detained in Russia during the Joe Biden administration four years ago, had just been freed — the result, he said, of a personal request he made to Putin during a phone call last week, Yonhap reported.

"What a difference one president makes," Trump wrote, adding that many people who had called for immediate sanctions against Russia had since phoned him to apologize. He said they had not known that negotiations for Hubbard's release were underway.

He called it "a truly great deal for America," saying that had sanctions been imposed, the negotiations "would have definitely been completely stopped."

Trump has been pressing Ukraine toward an end to the war while working out a diesel fuel arrangement with Putin, driven by concern over the impact of surging diesel prices on the midterm elections in early November.

Hubbard was arrested and indicted in Russia on charges of mercenary activity after signing a contract with the Ukrainian military in 2022, when the Ukraine war broke out. He had been living in Ukraine at the time.