Russia has released U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard, who had spent more than four years in Russian detention after allegedly fighting for Ukraine, US envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed in a post on X. Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired teacher, was freed from captivity and was at an airport waiting for a ride back to the US alongside Witkoff, who was in St. Petersburg meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I wanted to thank you very much. The president sends his thanks. Our whole nation sends its thanks,” Witkoff told Putin. “Because of you, he’s going home to his family.”
President Donald Trump later said the former teacher was “on his way back home” and “there was no ‘swap’ necessary”. After the release, Witkoff called Putin a “humanitarian.” The POTUS said he had been negotiating Hubbard’s release with Putin. “I’ve been talking to President Putin about Mr. Hubbard. I’ve been talking to him at length. I’ve asked him to release him. Let’s see what happens,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Hubbard, who served in the US Air Force and National Guard, was sentenced to nearly seven years during a closed trial in 2024 after he was accused of serving in a defense unit in eastern Ukraine. He was captured in 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Hubbard will fly out of St. Petersburg to Texas, where he will receive medical treatment at a military hospital, CBS News reported.
Trump puts the blame on Biden
Hubbard had been living in the Ukrainian city of Izyum since 2014 and was accused of signing up as a mercenary with a Ukrainian territorial defense unit, where he was allegedly promised $1,000 per month. His family denied the accusations. “He is so non-military,” his sister Patricia Hubbard Fox told Reuters by phone last month. “He never had a gun, owned a gun, done any of that…He’s more of a pacifist.”
Hubbard was allegedly moved between several prisons before ending up at a detention complex in the Mordovia region, east of Moscow, his lawyers told Reuters. In January 2025, the US State Department designated Hubbard’s capture as wrongful, allowing government officials to begin negotiations for his release.
Meanwhile, President Trump celebrated Hubbard’s “unprecedented” release while blaming his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, for not dealing with his release from Russia. “This major return should have taken place long ago through the Biden Administration, which got nowhere in its negotiations with the Kremlin,” he said on Truth Social. “Biden should have done the Hubbard release long ago! What a difference a President makes!” he said in a follow-up Truth Social post.
Hubbard’s release comes as Witkoff and Russia begin the latest round of trade negotiations between the two countries, aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Witkoff also thanked Putin for striking a deal with Washington to import Russian diesel, saying Trump was “deeply grateful” for it. With the US midterm elections in November approaching and affordability a top concern for many voters, Trump has sought to lower fuel costs.
Published: Oct 22, 2026 09:14 am