Witkoff backlash - Putin a humanitarian?

Steve Witkoff -- not a diplomat, but Trump's NYC real estate buddy acting as "special envoy for peace missions" --  is facing backlash after calling Vladimir Putin a “humanitarian” during talks in St. Petersburg, after Russia released American Stephen Hubbard from four years of detention. I've copy-and-pasted the following response from one of my favorites, Caring Guy, on Twitter. It's in the form of a reply to Witkoff:

WTAF is wrong with you? Stop emarrasing the US. 

You actually stood in front of Vladimir Putin today and called him a humanitarian. You thanked him for releasing a 74-year-old American whom his government had wrongfully imprisoned for more than four years. I’m glad Stephen Hubbard is free, but apparently you need a history lesson about the man you’re praising. 

Let’s start with Ukraine. Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of a sovereign country in February 2022, launching a war that has killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of people. Russian forces have bombed residential neighborhoods, hospitals, schools, and critical civilian infrastructure. They’ve destroyed entire communities, attacked power grids, and left families without electricity and heat during freezing winters. According to the United Nations, at least 2,570 civilians were killed and another 15,211 injured in Ukraine during just the first nine months of 2026. Those are verified casualties, not the total human cost of this war. 

Let’s talk about the Ukrainian children forcibly deported or transferred by Russian authorities. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023 over alleged war crimes involving the unlawful deportation and transfer of children. A United Nations investigation subsequently concluded that Russian authorities committed crimes against humanity through these deportations and enforced disappearances. The investigators documented more than 1,200 affected children, most of whom had not been returned to their families. 

Then there’s Bucha, where Russian troops summarily executed civilians during their occupation. There’s the systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, and the deliberate targeting of civilians. United Nations investigators have documented these atrocities and concluded that Russian authorities committed multiple crimes against humanity. These aren’t accusations invented by Putin’s political opponents. They’re the findings of international investigations. 

And Putin’s record didn’t begin with Ukraine. Under his leadership, Russian forces devastated Chechnya, where human rights investigators documented disappearances, torture, and summary executions. In Syria, Russian forces helped Bashar al-Assad wage devastating military campaigns that struck hospitals, schools, markets, and residential neighborhoods. Human Rights Watch documented war crimes committed during those operations. 

Now let’s look inside Russia. Putin’s government has systematically suppressed political opposition, imprisoned critics, censored journalists, and criminalized antiwar dissent. Alexei Navalny, one of Putin’s most prominent political opponents, survived poisoning, was imprisoned, and died in Russian custody in February 2024. Russian authorities have continued persecuting his supporters and lawyers. 

And let’s not forget Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. All 298 people aboard that civilian aircraft died when a Russian Buk missile brought it down over eastern Ukraine in 2014. International investigators subsequently identified strong indications that Putin authorized the supply of the missile system to Russian-backed separatists. 

Steve, diplomacy sometimes requires dealing with people responsible for terrible things. I understand that. But negotiating with Putin doesn’t require flattering him, ignoring his record, or pretending that releasing one wrongfully detained American somehow makes up for the suffering inflicted on millions of innocent people. 

You can thank Putin for releasing Stephen Hubbard without rewriting history. You can negotiate peace without abandoning the truth. And you can represent the United States without standing in front of a man wanted by the International Criminal Court and praising his humanitarian credentials. 

The people buried beneath the rubble of Ukrainian cities, the families searching for their missing children, the prisoners who have endured torture, and the millions driven from their homes deserve more than an American diplomat publicly praising the man whose government inflicted so much of that suffering. 

Do you even know what "humanitarian" means?