Russia Frees American Detainee as Witkoff Meets Putin

Russia has released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American jailed for allegedly fighting on behalf of Ukraine, as Vladimir Putin met the US envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg. Putin told the meeting early on Wednesday that Hubbard had been taken to Pulkovo Airport, according to Russian state media. Donald Trump later said the former teacher was on his way back home and that no swap had been necessary.

Hubbard was sentenced in 2024 to almost seven years in a penal colony, accused of serving in a defence unit in Izyum when Russian forces captured him shortly after Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022. Writing on social media after the release was reported, Trump said it followed a request he had made directly to Putin the previous week. Other releases of detained Americans from Russia have been secured through prisoner exchanges. Trump appeared also to defend his recent decision to suspend sanctions on Russia two days before they were due to take effect, writing that had the measures been imposed, negotiations for Hubbard's freedom would have come to a complete and total halt.

The State Department had classified Hubbard, who is from Michigan, as wrongfully detained, and the president had hinted on Tuesday that his release was imminent. Watch what happens, Trump told reporters. We have been focused on Hubbard. CBS News, the BBC's US media partner, reported that he had been in poor health and was expected to be flown to Texas for treatment.

Witkoff offered warm praise to his host. You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian, he told Putin. You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that. I commend you. Russian state media reported that Witkoff had also thanked Putin on Trump's behalf for the diesel deal struck with Washington earlier this month, under which the first shipment was due to leave Russia within two or three days, the Russian president said.

That agreement infuriated Volodymyr Zelensky and opened a tumultuous few weeks in which relations between Kyiv and Washington deteriorated sharply. Trump declared it was time for Ukraine to elect a new leader and suspended a number of sanctions. Ahead of next month's midterm elections he has sought to blame fuel prices, which have risen since the start of the US-led war on Iran, on Ukrainian strikes against Russian energy sites. Kyiv accused Washington of halting intelligence sharing on deadly Russian strikes, causing Ukrainians to lose their lives, an allegation the administration rejected as scandalous. Zelensky said on Tuesday that such sharing had resumed after talks with Witkoff in Oslo that the US described as positive.

As the St Petersburg meeting proceeded, Zelensky wrote on social media that much depended on whether the American side could hear something new from Russia about peace rather than the continuation of war. Ria Novosti reported that the two sides discussed the outcome of the Oslo talks and that Witkoff had brought documents outlining approaches to the peace process. They also covered the situation around Iran, a possible meeting in China and economic cooperation, with Putin said to have offered large quantities of fertiliser to the American market. Russian television filmed Witkoff describing the diesel deal as an example to Ukraine of what could be achieved by working together. Your decision to remove export controls on diesel oil from Russia, not just to the US but also to the world at large in the midst of an economic shock, I think that was really important, he said. I know President Trump is deeply grateful for it.

The release of one American does little to alter the wider picture. Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine continues, Moscow's forces still occupy roughly a fifth of Ukrainian territory, and the Kremlin has offered no sign of political concessions. The World House, which has consistently stood with Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began, provides further information on its support initiatives at worldhouse.uk/support.