October 21, 2026
By Joseph Wilson
Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired American schoolteacher from Michigan, has returned to freedom after spending more than four years in Russian custody following his capture in Ukraine during the early months of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Hubbard’s release on Wednesday as U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in St. Petersburg for talks aimed at restarting negotiations over the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin said the decision was made at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump and also took Hubbard’s poor health into account.
Hubbard was taken to St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport following his release and was preparing to return to the United States. His son, Joseph Coleman, told Reuters that he briefly spoke with his father by telephone before Hubbard boarded the aircraft.
“Today he seemed light in his step, a sense of happiness in his voice,” Coleman said, describing the first conversation with his father after the announcement of his release.
The release brought an end to a complicated legal and diplomatic case that began in eastern Ukraine in 2022 and eventually became part of Washington’s broader efforts to secure the freedom of Americans detained by Russia.
Hubbard grew up in Big Rapids, Michigan. According to military records cited by The New York Times, he served in the U.S. Air Force and the National Guard before pursuing a career in education.
He earned a master’s degree in English and spent approximately 25 years living and teaching in Japan. He later moved to Cyprus before settling in Izyum, a city in eastern Ukraine, in 2014 with a Ukrainian partner, according to his sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox.
By the time Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Hubbard was living in Izyum.
The city became one of the early targets of Russia’s military offensive. Russian forces captured Izyum in the spring of 2022, although Ukrainian troops eventually retook the city in September of that year.
Hubbard, however, was already in Russian custody by then. Russian state media reported that he had been detained in April 2022. Russian authorities accused him of serving with Ukrainian forces and alleged that he had been operating a military checkpoint.
The precise circumstances of his capture remain difficult to independently establish. Reuters reported that it could not independently verify how Hubbard was captured.
His family has consistently challenged the Russian account. Hubbard's sister told Reuters in 2024 that she recognized her brother in a YouTube video showing a man being questioned about his views on Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war. Another video appeared to show Hubbard with his hands bound while being struck with a sandal, although Reuters could not independently establish when or where the footage was recorded.
Hubbard was subsequently prosecuted in Russia. Following a closed-door trial in Moscow in October 2024, he was convicted of mercenary activity and sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison.
Russian prosecutors alleged that Hubbard had joined a Ukrainian territorial defence unit, received military training, weapons and ammunition, and had been promised approximately $1,000 a month.
Hubbard's American lawyer, Martin De Luca, disputed those allegations, telling Reuters that Hubbard maintained the charges were false and that he had not participated in combat or belonged to a military unit.
The U.S. government under the previous administration designated Hubbard as being wrongfully detained by Russia.
That designation was significant because it meant Washington considered the circumstances surrounding his detention to be unjust and believed his imprisonment required diplomatic intervention.
By the time he was released, Hubbard was the only American imprisoned in Russia who had formally been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained, according to Reuters.
His case also became increasingly connected to U.S.-Russia diplomacy. On Tuesday, Trump told reporters at the White House that he had personally discussed Hubbard with Putin and had asked the Russian president to release him.
Trump indicated that he expected developments shortly but did not disclose details of the negotiations.
“Just stick with me,” Trump said when asked about Hubbard, suggesting that an announcement could soon follow.
Less than 24 hours later, Putin announced Hubbard's release during his meeting with Witkoff. Witkoff thanked Putin during the meeting, saying Hubbard was going home to his family. A video later shared with Reuters showed Witkoff and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev meeting Hubbard at an undisclosed location. Hubbard shook Witkoff's hand and thanked him for his efforts.
Trump subsequently confirmed the release and said the United States had not been required to give anything in exchange for Hubbard's freedom.
That distinction makes Hubbard's release different from several previous high-profile U.S.-Russia prisoner exchanges, in which Americans were exchanged for Russian prisoners or other concessions.
The release also came at a particularly important moment in U.S.-Russia relations. Witkoff's meeting with Putin was not limited to Hubbard's case. The American envoy was in Russia to discuss a possible new diplomatic process aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
According to the Kremlin, Russia has agreed in principle to resume U.S.-mediated three-way negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States. Those discussions could begin on or after November 10 and could potentially be held in Abu Dhabi.
The talks would focus on security arrangements for both Ukraine and Russia after the war.
The timing of Hubbard's release therefore carries considerable diplomatic significance. While the Kremlin described the decision as a humanitarian gesture, his freedom was also secured during a high-level diplomatic engagement between Washington and Moscow.
For Hubbard's family, however, the immediate significance is far more personal.
More than four years had passed since they last had normal contact with him.
His sister had previously described him as living on a pension of roughly $300 a month and having relatively few connections in Izyum. Reuters reported that the siblings last spoke in September 2021, months before Russia's invasion.
His detention also illustrates the dangers faced by foreign nationals who remained in Ukraine after the Russian invasion began.
Thousands of civilians were caught in occupied territories as Russian forces advanced. Foreign nationals living in Ukraine faced particularly complicated circumstances because their legal status, military involvement and personal relationships could become subjects of scrutiny by occupying authorities.
In Hubbard's case, Russian prosecutors portrayed him as a foreign mercenary who had joined Ukrainian forces. His lawyer and family rejected that characterization.
Because his trial was held behind closed doors, many details surrounding the evidence presented against him have not been independently examined in public.
Hubbard's release also comes after another American, former U.S. Marine Robert Gilman, was freed from Russian custody in August. Gilman had spent more than four years imprisoned in Russia and was released after his health deteriorated significantly.
Other Americans remain imprisoned in Russia, including people whose families and advocacy organisations have challenged the circumstances of their detention.
The release of Hubbard has therefore generated relief but also renewed calls for Washington to continue pressing Moscow over other detained Americans.
For the Trump administration, Hubbard's return provides a tangible result at a time when Washington is attempting to rebuild a diplomatic channel with Moscow while simultaneously pushing Ukraine toward negotiations.
For Russia, releasing an elderly American prisoner during Putin's meeting with Witkoff provides a highly visible gesture of goodwill.
And for Hubbard himself, the diplomatic significance is secondary to something much simpler: going home.
After more than four years in Russian custody, the retired teacher from Michigan is once again travelling toward the United States, where his family is waiting for him.
His story began as that of an American who chose to live abroad and was caught in one of the world's most dangerous conflicts. It became a case involving imprisonment, disputed allegations of military service, international diplomacy and presidential intervention.
Now, with his release, Stephen Hubbard's long journey through the Ukraine war has entered a new chapter — one that his family hopes will be defined not by courts and prison cells, but by recovery and a return to ordinary life.