Trump requested, Putin failed: The American teacher who has been detained for 4 years is released!

NEWS CENTER/ US Ambassador to Ukraine Steve Witkoff said on Wednesday that Russian authorities have released a former American teacher who had been imprisoned since the early days of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a sign that relations between the Trump administration and Moscow are warming.

Stephen Hubbard, who was in his mid-70s, was convicted by a Russian court on charges of mercenary work after Kremlin troops invaded Ukraine in 2022. The US State Department last year described him as wrongfully detained.

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed the same statement as he began his ninth meeting with Witkoff, where negotiations to end the war in Ukraine intensified.

The statement came hours after US President Donald Trump said he had directly discussed Hubbard's release with Putin in their last meeting. “I talked to him at length,” Trump said.

According to the news in the Wall Street Journal, US special representative Witkoff will arrive in St. Petersburg on Wednesday to take Hubbard back to their country. He came to St. Petersburg. However, it was stated that the two would travel on separate planes due to health problems resulting from Hubbard's ill-treatment in the Russian prison.

During his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Witkoff described the Kremlin leader as a "humanitarian" and expressed his gratitude for Hubbard's release. Speaking on Russian state television, Witkoff said, "Thanks to you, he is returning to his family."

Hubbard, who was detained by Russian forces in April 2022, was later sentenced to six years and ten months in prison by the Moscow City Court in October 2024 on charges of mercenary service.

Russian prosecutors had alleged that he was fighting for Ukraine's regional defense forces in the northeastern Kharkiv region, which was heavily occupied by Russian forces at the time, under a $1,000-a-month contract.