American Stephen Hubbard was released from Russia on Wednesday, state news agencies reported, in the latest sign of warming ties between Russia and the Kremlin as Washington pressures Kyiv to agree to a deal to end Moscow’s war.
News of Hubbard’s release came after talks between U.S. envoy Steve Witkov and President Vladimir Putin earlier on Wednesday. Putin said Hubbard, 74, was at the Pulkovo airport near St. Petersburg, according to the TASS state news agency. The United States did not immediately confirm the news.
Washington has been courting the Kremlin for weeks, and the release of Hubbard — a retired teacher detained in Ukraine in 2022 — would be a victory for President Donald Trump, who has faced backlash at home and abroad for his tilt toward Ukraine.
Trump said on Tuesday he had raised the idea of freeing Hubbard, who is being held in Russia on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, to Putin.
Jared Kushner is expected to participate virtually in the meeting in St. Petersburg, after U.S. negotiators met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders in the Norwegian capital Oslo.
A U.S. official told NBC News that Ukraine came up with new ideas and proposals during those talks, adding that Ukraine had made “meaningful progress” as the Trump administration stepped up its peace push.
After months of little progress in diplomacy, the new U.S. move sparked a backlash at home and abroad amid a series of apparent U.S. moves to reject Ukraine’s support and align itself with Russia.
Trump’s renewed pressure campaign has raised concerns that the United States is no longer committed to defending Kyiv against invaders from Moscow.
“We want Zelensky to make a deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We gave a lot to Ukraine. We got absolutely nothing in return except grief, death and huge monetary losses.”
Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said Ukraine would lead the talks between Putin and Vitkov at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg. Ushakov said that Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev will also join.
The U.S. official said the goal of the meeting with Putin was to build on the progress made in Oslo, discuss the proposals with Russia and open the way for direct negotiations.
Zelensky said a possible trilateral leaders’ meeting was “one of the important ideas” that came up after talks in Oslo on Tuesday, which also included the leaders of Norway and Finland.
Putin has so far insisted that any meeting with Zelensky would only happen after a deal is finalized and held in Moscow, something that is out of the question for the Ukrainians. The Kremlin has also shown no sign of changing its hard-line demands, which include seizing Ukraine’s entire eastern Donbass region.
Trump signed a diesel fuel deal with Russia earlier this month and waived new sanctions on Moscow, while Kyiv said it had received no advance warning of at least three major Russian attacks and that restrictions on Elon Musk’s Star Shield satellite service continued to hinder its air defense and battlefield operations.
After talks with Vitkov on Tuesday, Zelensky told reporters that recent security cooperation issues with the United States had been resolved.
“We’re thankful that intelligence now plays a role – I’m talking about the early warning system, which is so important for our people, our children and civilians,” he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Oslo talks “positive” but said there were “no surprises” in their outcome. “With these ideas in mind,” Rubio said, “Vitkov will go to St. Petersburg and share them with the Russian side and let’s see if we can make some progress.”
Rubio once again denied that the White House was behind the slowdown in internet use in Ukraine, saying it was Musk and SpaceX’s problem. Musk himself said last week that any decision would be up to Trump.
Meanwhile, deadly Russian attacks continued to hit Ukraine, with at least nine civilians killed across the country on Wednesday as Moscow stepped up its crackdown on energy infrastructure ahead of winter.
Authorities in the Bryansk region on the Russian border said on Wednesday that an attack in Ukraine killed one person.