Russia frees American teacher as US envoy meets Putin

Russia has released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired American teacher imprisoned on charges of fighting for Ukraine, as U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met President Vladimir Putin for talks on ending the war. Hubbard denies taking part in combat.

News of Hubbard’s release came Wednesday as Witkoff held talks with Putin in St. Petersburg. In remarks carried by Russian state news agencies, Putin said Hubbard was at the airport. Witkoff thanked him, saying, “You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir.”

President Donald Trump said he had asked Putin directly to free Hubbard during a phone call last week. “Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. He said the United States was not required to give anything in return. “Welcome home Stephen, it’s great to have you back,” he added.

Hubbard grew up in Michigan and had been living with his Ukrainian wife in the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum, The Guardian reported. Russian authorities arrested him in 2022, and a Russian court sentenced him in 2024 to nearly seven years in prison. Hubbard has said he belonged to no military unit and that Russian forces took him from his home. NBC News reported that he was the last American designated by the State Department as wrongfully detained in Russia.

Witkoff’s meeting with Putin followed talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders. A U.S. official told NBC News that Ukraine brought forward new proposals and that the discussions made “meaningful progress.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Oslo talks “positive,” though he said “nothing unexpected” had emerged.

Witkoff told Putin that “groundwork” had been laid to end the fighting and that he had brought documents outlining possible approaches to a deal. He also raised the prospect of renewed trilateral talks. Zelenskyy said a meeting among the countries’ leaders was “one of the important ideas” discussed in Oslo. Putin has insisted he would meet Zelenskyy only after a deal was finalized and that such a meeting take place in Moscow, terms unacceptable to Ukraine, according to NBC News.

Trump pressed Kyiv on Tuesday. “We want Zelenskyy to make a deal,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “We’ve given a lot to Ukraine. We’ve gotten absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss.”

Ukraine had accused the United States of withholding warnings about major Russian attacks and said restrictions on Elon Musk’s Starshield satellite service were hindering its defenses, NBC News reported. After the Oslo talks, Zelenskyy said the recent security-cooperation issues had been resolved. “We are thankful that intelligence works now — I am speaking about early warning systems, which are very important for our people, for our children and civilians,” he said.

The fighting continued Wednesday. At least nine civilians were killed in Russian attacks across Ukraine, while authorities in Russia’s Bryansk region said a Ukrainian strike killed one person, according to NBC News.