Russia has released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American citizen imprisoned for allegedly fighting on behalf of Ukraine. The release coincided with a meeting between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.

Hubbard, a former teacher from Michigan, was sentenced in 2024 to nearly seven years in a penal colony. Russian authorities accused him of serving in a Ukrainian defense unit when he was captured shortly after Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022. The U.S. State Department had previously classified Hubbard as wrongfully detained.

President Donald Trump announced Hubbard's release, stating the former teacher was en route home and that no prisoner swap was necessary. Trump indicated on social media that the release followed a direct request he made to Putin last week. Some previous releases of detained Americans have been secured through prisoner exchanges.

Trump also appeared to link his decision to suspend sanctions on Russia to Hubbard's release, suggesting that imposing sanctions would have halted negotiations. He stated that if sanctions had been in place, negotiations for Hubbard's release would have ceased entirely. Hubbard was reportedly in poor health and expected to be flown to Texas for treatment.

During the meeting, Witkoff praised Putin for the release, calling him a humanitarian. Russian state media also reported that Witkoff thanked Putin on behalf of President Trump for a separate deal struck earlier this month to import Russian diesel into the U.S. Putin stated that the first shipment under this agreement would depart within two to three days.

The diesel deal had previously strained relations, angering Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. Following the deal, Trump had suggested it was time for Ukraine to find a new leader and suspended several sanctions. Trump has also attributed rising fuel prices to Ukrainian strikes against Russian energy sites.

These developments occurred amid ongoing diplomatic efforts. Ukrainian President Zelensky had commented prior to the St. Petersburg talks that much depended on whether the U.S. would hear "something new from Russia today – about peace, and not about continuing the war." Washington had previously rejected Ukrainian accusations of halting intelligence sharing on Russian strikes.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department described recent talks in Oslo between Witkoff and Ukrainian officials as positive, and President Zelensky confirmed that information sharing had resumed.