Russia released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired Michigan schoolteacher, on Wednesday as U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met with President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg to advance peace negotiations over Ukraine.
Putin told Witkoff that Hubbard was at the airport, and Witkoff thanked the Russian leader for his release, according to NBC News. Trump said Tuesday he had raised the matter with Putin directly.
The release gives the Trump administration a claimed victory after weeks of diplomatic pressure on the Kremlin and mounting criticism at home and abroad that Washington is tilting away from Ukraine. The meeting at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, which Jared Kushner was expected to join virtually, came hours after American negotiators met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders in Oslo.
Why Hubbard was detained and what he faced
Hubbard was detained in Ukraine in 2022 on charges that he fought as a mercenary in the war. He has denied the allegations, according to NBC News.
What the Trump administration is seeking
The Trump administration has courted the Kremlin for weeks to broker an end to Russia's invasion. Ukraine brought forward new ideas and proposals at the Oslo talks, and "meaningful progress" was made, a U.S. official told NBC News. The goal of Witkoff's meeting with Putin was to build on that progress, discuss the proposals with Russia, and create a pathway toward direct negotiations, the official said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Oslo talks "positive" but said "nothing unexpected" came out of them. Rubio said Witkoff would go to St. Petersburg and share the ideas with the Russian side "and let's see if we can make some progress," according to NBC News.
Zelenskyy said a potential trilateral leaders' meeting was "one of the important ideas" raised in Oslo. However, Putin has insisted any meeting with Zelenskyy could only happen once a deal is finalized and must take place in Moscow — a position Ukraine views as unacceptable.
Russia's demands and the Kremlin's stance
The Kremlin has shown little sign of shifting from its hardline demands, which include seizing Ukraine's entire eastern Donbas region, according to NBC News. Putin has also made clear he will not move toward negotiations without preconditions favoring Russia.
Signs of shifting U.S. priorities
Trump has signaled impatience with the cost of supporting Ukraine. "We want Zelenskyy to make a deal," Trump told reporters Wednesday. "We've given a lot to Ukraine. We've gotten absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss."
Earlier this month, Trump signed a diesel fuel deal with Russia and waived new sanctions on Moscow. Kyiv says it received no advanced warning about at least three major Russian attacks and that restrictions on Elon Musk's Starshield satellite service continue to hamper its aerial defenses and battlefield operations, according to NBC News.
After Tuesday's talks with Witkoff, Zelenskyy told reporters that recent issues on security cooperation with the U.S. have been resolved. "We are thankful that intelligence works now — I am speaking about early warning systems, which are very important for our people, for our children and civilians," he said, according to NBC News.
Secretary of State Rubio denied that the White House was behind any slowdown to Ukraine's use of the internet service, saying the issue belonged to Musk and SpaceX. Musk said last week any decision was down to Trump, according to NBC News.
The war continues despite diplomatic efforts
At least nine civilians were killed across Ukraine on Wednesday as Moscow ramped up strikes on energy infrastructure ahead of winter, according to NBC News. One person was killed in Russia's Bryansk region in a Ukrainian strike the same day.