Russia released Stephen Hubbard, a U.S. citizen allegedly fighting on behalf of Ukraine captured in the opening phase of its invasion of Ukraine, President Donald Trump announced.
Trump said he personally made the request to release Hubbard, 74, last week in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hubbard had been sentenced to nearly seven years in a penal colony in 2024.
“Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family. The United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return – an unprecedented situation for Russia. There was no ‘swap’ necessary for this release,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“This major return should have taken place long ago through the Biden Administration, which got nowhere in its negotiations with the Kremlin. Stephen is on his way back home. ‘Welcome home Stephen, it’s great to have you back,’” he added.
The president quickly touted the release as vindicating his detente approach with Russia, bashing his critics over the past couple weeks who had denounced his refusal to take a more aggressive approach against Moscow.
“Numerous people, who requested that sanctions be immediately imposed on Russia, have called to apologize to President Trump in that they didn’t know that he was negotiating the release of Stephen Hubbard, a truly big and important deal for the U.S. If sanctions would have been placed, certainly those negotiations would have come to a complete and total halt,” he said in another post on Truth Social.
The president also leaned heavily into former President Joe Biden’s failure to get Hubbard released, mentioning as much twice across three posts.
Hubbard, a retired school teacher from Michigan, was captured by Russian forces in the Kharkov city of Izyum. Russian prosecutors alleged he was serving in a defense unit when he was captured, but his family has disputed as much.
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who entered Russia through the same airport that Hubbard was released, publicly thanked Putin and praised him as a “humanitarian.”
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“I want to thank you very much, the president sends his thanks … the whole nation sends their thanks because of Stephen Hubbard. Because of you, he’s going home to his family,” he said.
Relations between the U.S. and Russia have warmed particularly over the past few weeks, a development that has been met with rage by Ukraine and its supporters. The saga began when Trump announced a deal to inject vast amounts of Russian diesel fuel into the world market to bring down prices. After outrage from Kyiv, and Ukraine’s continued striking of Russian refineries, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has complained of the U.S. throttling Starshield and sending insufficient support. His complaints have only further embittered the Trump administration, especially as Zelensky has increasingly turned to Congress and the public to back him up.