Russia frees American Stephen Hubbard as Witkoff meets Putin in St Petersburg
Russia has released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired American teacher, as US envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Wednesday to push for a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
Hubbard's release
Donald Trump said he had asked Putin directly in a phone call last week to free Hubbard, NBC News reported.
"Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family," Trump wrote on Truth Social. He said the US "was not required to give anything in return."
Trump also claimed the talks to free Hubbard "would have come to a complete and total halt" if he had not waived new sanctions on Moscow. He signed a diesel deal with Russia earlier this month, which drew criticism from both parties.
You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir.
What was said in the room
Opening the meeting, Putin said Russia wanted to restore economic ties with the US and could supply more fertiliser, Anadolu reported. He said diesel prices had fallen 5–6% since the US-Russia diesel agreement, and asked for Trump's view on Iran.
"I know that a meeting took place in Norway yesterday. Of course, it's interesting to learn about the results of that meeting," Putin said, according to TASS. Witkoff had been greeted at the airport by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
Witkoff said he had brought documents setting out approaches to a deal, NBC reported. No agreement had been announced by Wednesday morning.
The gap that remains
| Position | Detail |
|---|---|
| Ukraine (Oslo) | Brought new proposals; a trilateral leaders' meeting was "one of the important ideas" (Zelenskyy) |
| Russia | Any Putin–Zelenskyy meeting only after a deal is finalised, and in Moscow |
| Russia's demands | Include all of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region |
| US | "We want Zelenskyy to make a deal" (Trump, Tuesday) |
Source: NBC News.
After Tuesday's talks, Zelenskyy said recent problems with intelligence sharing had been resolved. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Oslo talks "positive" but said "nothing unexpected" came out of them.
