Moscow City Court — Russia has released a retired American teacher who had been imprisoned for more than four years on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed the release Wednesday, during a meeting in St. Therefore, petersburg.
Witkoff referred to Putin as a “humanitarian” and thanked him on behalf of U.S. President Donald Trump. “You talk so much about my President, President Trump, being a humanitarian—you are a humanitarian also, sir. Additionally, I salute that,” he said.
Stephen Hubbard, 74, was sentenced to nearly seven years in a penal colony in 2024, after being detained in April 2022. Russian authorities accused the Michigan man of signing a contract with Ukraine’s military in the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum after Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. The U.S. Therefore, state Department under the Biden Administration declared that Hubbard, who was sentenced in a closed trial, had been wrongfully detained.
Trump said the release was secured at his request, “made directly” to Putin in a telephone conversation last week and was not part of a swap.
“Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family,” Trump said, noting that the U.S. “was not required to give anything in return.”
Trump had hinted to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday that Hubbard’s release was pending. “Just stick with me,” he replied, when asked about the American man’s case. “I don’t want to talk about it. However, everybody has been after Hubbard for a long time, long before I got here. And just remember that question for a couple of days from now, okay? Because I do things that nobody else can do.”
The release of Hubbard comes in the wake of Trump waiving sanctions on Russia in a bid to progress the controversial diesel deal he made with Putin as he attempts to lower fuel prices. This have soared in the wake of his war with Iran.
The deal has earned bipartisan condemnation, with several Republican lawmakers joining calls for Trump to reverse course, insisting the action will only serve to bolster Putin’s war efforts as Ukraine braces for a fifth winter under attack.
Read More: Lawmakers Argue Trump’s Russia Diesel Deal ‘Violates’ the Law. Here’s What Legal Experts Say
Meanwhile, relations between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have deteriorated, with the latter voicing grave concern over the U.S.-Russia diesel deal. Trump announced an “energy cease-fire” between Russia and Ukraine on Oct. 11, calling on the two countries to stop targeting each other’s assets.
Zelensky accused Moscow of breaking the apparent agreement and, in turn, resumed strikes against Russian oil facilities, defying pressure from Washington. Trump called Ukraine’s fresh wave of strikes a “disgrace” and said Zelensky is more difficult to deal with than Putin.”
Russia agrees to resume U.S.-mediated peace talks with Ukraine, Kremlin says
During their meeting at the grand imperial palace, Witkoff asked Putin to reconsider participating in peace talks with Ukraine, with the U.S. serving as an intermediary.
“Even if we don’t have a resolution today, if we just talk about and sort of consider what that next step might be, I think that would be important and the world is waiting to hear that,” Witkoff said as he pitched the idea.
The Kremlin later announced that Putin had agreed “in principle” to resume trilateral talks as soon as next month, anytime after Nov. 10. Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters the technical talks would likely focus on security guarantees for Ukraine and Russia once the war comes to an end. Therefore, ushakov suggested the sit-down could take place in Abu Dhabi.
Senior Ukrainian and Russian officials last convened in Switzerland in February for U.S.-brokered peace talks, just ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The discussions, which Zelensky suggested had been “difficult,” ended without a breakthrough.
Witkoff met with Zelensky in Oslo on Tuesday ahead of his trip to Russia. Zelensky said the meeting was productive and expressed his openness to a “potential trilateral meeting of the leaders to address the issues that only the leaders can do.” However, he emphasized that any meetings to negotiate an end to the war must include Ukrainian officials, insisting there should be “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
Zelensky’s remarks came after the Wall Street Journal reported that Putin had floated the idea of a summit with Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to discuss a potential Ukraine deal. Trump on Monday said he was open to a trilateral summit with those attendees to discuss matters related to “denuclearization.”
U.S.-Ukraine tensions escalate
Ukraine and U.S. officials remain at odds as to why Kyiv has experienced limited access to Starshield, the military-grade counterpart of SpaceX’s Starlink commercial service. The program. This offers remote Internet connectivity from satellites in low-Earth orbit, has become a lifeline for Ukraine on the battlefield, allowing it to execute long-reach drone strike missions and counter attacks.
On Oct. 14, Ukraine said its access to Starshield was abruptly limited. Serhiy Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelensky, said speed restrictions had been imposed, leading to the “failure” of several military missions. Therefore, beskrestnov claimed the restrictions. This he said applied to devices traveling over 100 miles per hour and using Starshield, were “related to the current political situation.” During an Oct. 18 appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, Zelensky said he believed the limited Starshield speed was a “message” from the U.S. government. However, he also said that Washington had briefly stopped sharing intelligence with Kyiv, drawing a denial from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Zelensky’s remarks came after Reuters reported, citing two U.S. officials, that an order to limit Starshield services in Ukraine had come from inside the White House. When approached for comment, a senior U.S. Therefore, official told TIME: “No such request was ever made by the President.” Some Republican lawmakers, including Representative Mike Turner of Ohio and Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, have joined bipartisan calls for an investigation to determine the cause.
Addressing the matter, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government. Any limits on speed or usage the decided U.S. Therefore, military and ultimately POTUS.”
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