Russia frees US citizen Stephen Hubbard, state media reports

Russia has agreed to release Stephen Hubbard, a US citizen jailed after being accused of fighting for Ukraine, Russian state media report. Vladimir Putin said Hubbard had been taken to Pulkovo Airport during talks in St Petersburg with US envoy Steve Witkoff. Originally from Michigan, Hubbard was 72 when he was sentenced in 2024 to almost seven years in a penal colony. Prosecutors said he was serving in a defence unit in Izyum when Russian forces captured him two years earlier.