Russia just freed an American teacher held since 2022 — while Trump's envoy sat across from Putin

The release

Russia on Wednesday freed Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired teacher from Michigan who had been jailed for more than four years, during a visit to St. Petersburg by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, the Associated Press reported. President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he had asked Putin directly during a phone call last week to free Hubbard — and that unlike previous releases, the U.S. gave up nothing in return. "Welcome home, Stephen, it's great to have you back," Trump wrote.

Hubbard was detained by Russian forces in Izyum, eastern Ukraine, in April 2022, and a Moscow court convicted him in October 2024 on charges of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine, sentencing him to nearly seven years after a largely closed trial. He denies the charges — his lawyer, Martin De Luca, has said Hubbard was never in any combat or military unit — and the U.S. government designated him wrongfully detained in January 2025.

The talks

The release opened Witkoff's ninth in-person meeting with Putin, held at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg and lasting about three hours, according to the AP. Witkoff arrived carrying proposals developed after Tuesday's consultations in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders — including ideas on security guarantees, a post-war economic plan, and a possible halt to attacks on energy infrastructure. Neither side announced an agreement on a ceasefire, territory or security guarantees.

The Canadian angle

Canada is one of Ukraine's most consistent backers — financially, militarily and as home to one of the world's largest Ukrainian diasporas. Any genuine movement in the U.S.-Russia channel reshapes the war Canada has helped fund, and a goodwill release with no swap attached is the clearest signal yet of how directly Trump is dealing with Putin. Whether it buys real momentum toward a settlement — or just a headline — is the open question.