Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old Michigan native, landed in the United States on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, after being released from a Russian prison. President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters late Wednesday night, said Hubbard is expected to visit the White House in the coming days following a medical evaluation in San Antonio, Texas.
Hubbard, a retired schoolteacher, was captured in Ukraine in 2022 shortly after the Russian invasion. Russian prosecutors accused him of joining a Ukrainian territorial defense unit as a mercenary, while his family maintained he was not involved in the military. In 2024, a Russian court sentenced him to nearly seven years in a penal colony, but the U.S. government subsequently classified him as wrongfully detained.
The release followed a meeting in St. Petersburg between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. President Trump stated the release occurred after a direct request he made to Putin during discussions about the war in Ukraine. According to Trump, no prisoner swap was necessary for Hubbard's return, though he linked the successful negotiation to his decision to halt new congressional sanctions against Russia.
The event has drawn criticism from some U.S. lawmakers. Representative Don Bacon (R-NE) called Witkoff’s praise of Putin an "embarrassment," and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) described the Russian leader as a "stone cold killer." Conversely, Vice President JD Vance defended the envoy's actions, stating that the primary objective was the return of a U.S. citizen to his family. National security analysts noted that while the release is a humanitarian gesture, it coincided with a period of tension between Washington and Kyiv over intelligence sharing and the suspension of sanctions.
Hubbard will undergo medical assessments at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio to evaluate his health after four years in custody. His son, Joseph Coleman, reported that Hubbard sounded improved in health during a brief phone call before departing St. Petersburg. The first shipment of Russian diesel under the new agreement is scheduled to depart Russia in two to three days.