LANSING, Mich. (WOWO) — A 74-year-old retired Michigan teacher is heading home after Russia released him Wednesday from more than four years of imprisonment on charges of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine.

According to reporting by Bridge Michigan, Stephen Hubbard was freed during a visit to Russia by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg. President Donald Trump said he had personally asked Putin to release Hubbard during a phone call last week and that the United States did not have to release anyone in exchange.

“Welcome home, Stephen, it’s great to have you back,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Hubbard, a U.S. Air Force veteran, had been held in Russia since 2022. Russian prosecutors alleged he signed a contract with Ukraine’s military after Russia launched its full-scale invasion and fought alongside Ukrainian forces until he was captured about two months later.

He was sentenced in 2024 to nearly seven years in prison following closed court proceedings. The Biden administration designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained, and his legal team disputed Russia’s allegations, saying he had not participated in military activity.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the United States had raised Hubbard’s case over time and that Putin agreed to release him for humanitarian reasons. Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said the Russian leader had pardoned Hubbard.

After the release, Hubbard was taken to St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport, where Witkoff met him before his return to the United States. Witkoff thanked Putin, telling him, “Because of you, he’s going home to his family.”

Witkoff also described Putin as a humanitarian as the two leaders discussed Russia’s war against Ukraine. The conflict will reach its five-year mark in February 2027.

Hubbard had taught English overseas before retiring in 2012 to Cyprus, where one of his sons is a Christian Orthodox priest. He later moved to Ukraine to be with a woman he had met, according to his lawyers. He remained in the country after the relationship ended and was living there when Russia invaded in 2022.

His family feared he might never return alive, said Martin De Luca, one of Hubbard’s lawyers at the U.S. law firm Boies Schiller Flexner. The firm and Russian law firm EPAM Law also worked on the release of American teacher Marc Fogel, who was freed from Russian custody last year.

“They thought they weren’t going to see him again alive, and Stephen didn’t think he was going to come out of there alive,” De Luca said. He described Hubbard’s family as overjoyed and said they viewed the release as “a miracle.”

Hubbard is the second American freed by Russia in roughly two months. In August, Russia released Marine veteran Robert Gilman, who had been seriously ill and was imprisoned on disputed charges of assaulting a police officer.

But other Americans remain imprisoned in Russia, including some with serious medical conditions. Hubbard was the last American designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained in Russia, although advocates say other prisoners should receive that designation.

Global Reach, an advocacy organization that works to free Americans detained abroad and represents five Americans held in Russia, welcomed Hubbard’s release while urging the administration to secure the freedom of the others.

“We are grateful to the Trump Administration for reuniting Stephen Hubbard with his family, but at the same time, we know that there are five other families of Americans held in Russia who are going to have a hard time understanding why their loved one was not included in the deal,” said Eric Lebson, the group’s chief strategy officer.

Hubbard’s release came amid shifting relations between Washington, Moscow and Kyiv. The Trump administration has advanced policies that have benefited Russia, including waiving certain sanctions and announcing a deal to import Russian diesel fuel as it seeks to curb high energy prices.

Witkoff met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Norway on Tuesday before traveling to Russia for talks with Putin. The administration continues to push for a deal to end the fighting, while tensions between Washington and Kyiv have complicated the diplomatic effort.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities have announced additional arrests of foreign nationals suspected of security-related offenses. Russia’s Federal Security Service said Wednesday it had detained a German national suspected of mercenary activity. Authorities also recently announced the arrests of a Swedish national suspected of sabotage and a Japanese journalist accused of espionage.

Hubbard’s release reunites a family that feared he would die in custody, but the cases of other Americans still held in Russia remain unresolved.