Russia Frees Hubbard as Leaders Bargain Over Ukraine

Russia released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired American teacher from Michigan, on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg as state officials discussed Ukraine’s future over the heads of people living through the war. Hubbard had spent time in Russian custody after a closed trial.

A Closed Trial, Then a State Announcement

Russian authorities detained Hubbard in 2022 and sentenced him in 2024 to nearly seven years in prison on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. He denied the charges. Prosecutors said he signed a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, fought alongside Ukrainian forces and was captured two months later.

U.S. officials designated Hubbard wrongfully detained under the Biden administration. Russia’s state news agencies reported his release, and Putin said Hubbard was at Pulkovo Airport near St. Petersburg. NBC News said it had no immediate U.S. confirmation. The AP reported that Witkoff announced the release during his meeting with Putin.

President Donald Trump said earlier in the week that he had spoken at length with Putin about Hubbard and asked him to release the American. “I've been talking to President Putin about Mr. Hubbard. I've been talking to him at length. I've asked him to release him. Let's see what happens,” Trump said. On Tuesday, Trump again said he had raised the release with Putin.

Ukraine’s Future on the Meeting Agenda

The St. Petersburg meeting followed talks in Oslo between U.S. negotiators, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, including the leaders of Norway and Finland. Jared Kushner was expected to join the meeting virtually. Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said Ukraine would dominate the Putin-Witkoff talks at Constantine Palace; Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev was also due to join and greeted Witkoff at the airport outside St. Petersburg.

A U.S. official told NBC News that Ukraine had brought forward new ideas and proposals in Oslo, where “meaningful progress” had been made. The stated goal in St. Petersburg was to build on that progress, discuss the proposals with Russia and create a path toward direct negotiations. Zelenskyy called a possible trilateral leaders’ meeting “one of the important ideas” raised in Oslo.

Putin has said he would meet Zelenskyy only after a deal was finalized, and only in Moscow. Ukrainians considered that condition unacceptable. The Kremlin showed little sign of changing its demands, including that Russia seize all of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. Witkoff had tried without success to steer Russia and Ukraine toward a settlement. The war was approaching its five-year mark in February.

Civilians Pay While Officials Talk

Diplomacy continues alongside attacks. Russian attacks in Ukraine on Wednesday killed at least nine civilians, NBC reported, as Moscow stepped up strikes on energy infrastructure ahead of winter. Authorities in Russia’s border Bryansk region said a Ukrainian strike killed one person.

Zelenskyy said recent U.S. security-cooperation issues had been resolved after Tuesday’s talks. “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. Kyiv said it received no advance warning of at least three major Russian attacks, and restrictions on Elon Musk’s Starshield satellite service continued to hamper its air defenses and battlefield operations.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Oslo talks “positive,” but said “nothing unexpected” had come out of them. Witkoff would take the ideas to St. Petersburg and share them with Russia, Rubio said, “and let's see if we can make some progress.” Rubio denied the White House was behind any slowdown in Ukraine’s use of internet service, saying the matter involved Musk and SpaceX. Musk said the previous week that any decision was Trump’s.

Trump signed a diesel fuel deal with Russia earlier in October and waived new sanctions on Moscow. NBC described Hubbard’s release as a sign of warmer ties between Washington and Moscow amid U.S. pressure on Kyiv to agree to a deal ending the war. Washington had courted the Kremlin for weeks, and Trump faced domestic and international backlash over a tilt away from Ukraine. Officials keep negotiating. Civilians remain under attack.