Putin Frees American as Witkoff Opens Talks in St Petersburg
President Putin announced the release of Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American held since shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, during talks with the United States envoy Steve Witkoff at a palace outside St Petersburg. Witkoff said there is “a foundation in place to move toward a ceasefire”. No ceasefire and no territorial agreement emerged.
Mr Hubbard is a retired schoolteacher from Michigan who had served in the National Guard and the Air Force. He was captured in Ukraine in 2022 and convicted at a closed trial in 2024 of fighting for Ukraine as a mercenary, for which he was sentenced to nearly seven years in a penal colony; he was the last American in Russia formally designated wrongfully detained, is in poor health, and is expected to be flown to a military hospital in Texas. Witkoff, filmed in the room, told Mr Putin: “Because of you, he’s going home to his family.” President Trump said he had pressed the Russian president repeatedly over many months. What Washington gave in return, if anything, has not been disclosed, and no quid pro quo should be inferred. Witkoff separately thanked Mr Putin for lifting export controls on Russian diesel, and the Kremlin’s own account has the first cargo leaving within two to three days. The other thread closed today too: President Zelensky confirmed American warning intelligence is reaching Ukraine again, saying simply, “Now it works. It’s great.”