“There was no ‘swap’ necessary for this release.”
With that line on Truth Social Wednesday morning, President Trump announced that Russia had freed Stephen Hubbard, a retired teacher from Michigan who spent more than four years in Russian custody. America gave up nothing to get him back.
Trump said Hubbard was released “at the request of President Donald J. Trump, made directly to President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation last week.” He added: “Stephen is on his way back home.”
President Donald J. Trump announces the release of Stephen Hubbard, taken four years ago by Russia during the Biden Administration. Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/EsMPLkeYbO
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 21, 2026
Who is Stephen Hubbard?
Hubbard is a U.S. Air Force veteran who taught English overseas and retired to Cyprus by 2012, according to the Associated Press. He later moved to Ukraine to be with a woman he had met and stayed after the relationship ended.
When Russian forces took control of his area in 2022, he was detained. That was April 2022, about two months after the invasion began. In 2024, a Russian court sentenced him in closed proceedings to nearly seven years in prison. Prosecutors said he had signed a contract with the Ukrainian military and fought as a mercenary. His lawyers denied it and said he was never involved in any military activity.
His sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, said he was “just for bait.” The AP reported she expects him to stay with her in Colorado. Trump said Hubbard is expected to visit the White House in the coming days and called him “the happiest man around.”
How it happened
The release was completed while U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff was in St. Petersburg meeting Putin in person. Witkoff told Putin, “because of you, he’s going home to his family,” Fox News reported.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the American side raised the case and that Russia acted for “humanitarian considerations.” Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin pardoned Hubbard.
Trump said he had been “talking to him at length” about Hubbard and had “asked him to release him.” Unlike previous releases, the U.S. did not have to hand over anyone in return.
“Biden should have done the Hubbard release long ago!”
Hubbard was taken on President Biden’s watch. The Biden administration designated him as wrongfully detained, but he stayed locked up. Trump didn’t let that pass: “Biden should have done the Hubbard release long ago!” he wrote.
Hubbard is the second American freed by Russia in about two months, after Marine veteran Robert Gilman was released in August. He was the last American Russia held who carried the wrongful-detention designation. Asked whether more Americans would come home, Trump said, “Yeah, I think so.”
Not everyone liked the tone of the talks. Witkoff publicly thanked Putin and called him a “humanitarian,” and the AP noted that peace efforts over the war in Ukraine have not yet produced a settlement.
The bottom line
Past releases from Russia came through swaps, with Washington handing someone back to get an American out. Every trade like that tells hostile regimes that a jailed American is a bargaining chip worth holding.
Trump just did it differently. One phone call, direct pressure, and a 74-year-old veteran walks free with nothing given up in return. No ransom, no trade, no bargaining chip for the next kidnapping.
Strength gets results. Stephen Hubbard is coming home, and Biden’s team never managed it.