Russia released a 74-year-old American citizen who was jailed for allegedly fighting on behalf of Ukraine, as President Vladimir Putin met US envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg for talks.

Stephen Hubbard was taken to the city's Pulkovo Airport, Putin said during the meeting early on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump later said the former teacher was "on his way back home" and "there was no 'swap' necessary". Following the release, Witkoff called Putin a humanitarian.

Hubbard, who was sentenced to almost seven years in a penal colony in 2024, was accused of serving in a defence unit in eastern Ukraine when he was captured in 2022, shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion.

CBS News, the BBC's US media partner, reported that Hubbard had been in poor health and was expected to be flown to Texas for treatment.

Witkoff gave praise to Putin for releasing Hubbard, saying: "You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian - you are a humanitarian also sir, and I salute that. I commend you."

The remark sparked a backlash from lawmakers in the Republican party, with Representative Don Bacon posting on social media that it was "another embarrassment". Senator John Cornyn said Putin "is a stone cold killer".

Hubbard was later seen thanking Witkoff as they met separately. Putin's financial adviser Kirill Dmitriev was also present.

Writing on social media after Russian state media reported the release, Trump said it had followed a request he "made directly" to Putin last week.

In the past, detained Americans have primarily been released from Russia through prisoner swaps.

Trump also appeared to defend his recent decision to suspend sanctions on Russia two days before they were due to come into force, writing that "if sanctions would have been placed", negotiations for Hubbard's release "would have come to a complete and total halt".

The US state department had previously classified Hubbard, from Michigan, as "wrongfully detained" and Trump on Tuesday had suggested that his release may be imminent.

"Watch what happens," Trump told reporters, "we have been focused ⁠on ​Hubbard".

Russian prosecutors had accused Hubbard of joining a Ukrainian military unit and receiving training and weapons. But his sister, Patricia Fox Hubbard, previously told Reuters that this was unlikely because of his older age and his disinterest in the military.

Hubbard's son, Joseph Coleman, who is an Orthodox priest, said in a statement that he had prayed for many years for his father's release.

"As I await the blessing of embracing him again, I receive his freedom not as a political victory, but as a gift of mercy," Coleman said.

A lawyer for Hubbard, Martin De Luca, posted on social media on Wednesday: "The road to peace is difficult, but its human dividends need not wait for a final agreement."

A spokesman for Putin, Dmitry Peskov, told Russian media that American officials had been asking Russia to release Hubbard for some time, and Putin decided to do so for humanitarian reasons.

Witkoff, who had attended talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo the previous day, also asked Putin to consider a number of proposals agreed in the Norwegian capital, including renewing trilateral peace talks with Ukraine to try to end the war.

Putin has not publicly commented on whether any of the proposals would be acceptable for Moscow.

The Russian leader has so far rejected all proposals from Ukraine and its European allies to freeze the vast front line as it is and start peace talks.

He thanked Putin for the deal struck with Washington earlier this month to import Russian diesel, saying Trump was "deeply grateful" for it.

The first shipment under the agreement will leave Russia "in two to three days", Putin said during the meeting, as quoted by state news agency TASS.

The diesel deal infuriated Zelensky and triggered a tumultuous few weeks of deteriorating relations during which Trump suspended a number of sanctions and said it was time for Ukraine to elect a new leader.

Ahead of the US midterm elections in November, Trump has also sought to blame fuel prices, which have risen since the start of the US-led war on Iran, on Ukrainian strikes against Russian energy sites.

Kyiv meanwhile accused Washington of halting intelligence sharing on deadly Russian strikes, causing Ukrainians to lose their lives - an allegation Washington rejected as "scandalous" - and claimed a sudden restriction to the Starshield internet service in its war effort had been deliberate.

The Ukrainian president said on Tuesday that intelligence sharing had resumed, following talks with Witkoff in Oslo described by a US official as "constructive".

As talks were under way in St Petersburg, Zelensky wrote on social media that "much depends on whether the American side can hear something new from Russia today – about peace, and not about continuing the war".

Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reported that the US and Russia discussed the outcome of the Oslo talks and that Witkoff had brought documents "outlining approaches to the peace process".

They also discussed the "situation surrounding Iran", a possible meeting in China, and economic cooperation with the US, with Putin reportedly stating that Russia could provide large quantities of fertiliser to the American market.

The talks in St Petersburg lasted about than three hours, Russia's state-run media reported.