Stephen Hubbard's son: "It's tragic when family members are torn apart" by Russian captivity.

Stephen Hubbard's son: "It's tragic when family members are torn apart" by Russian captivity.

For years, Joseph Coleman's father had little ability to influence what happened to his father, Stephen Hubbard, an American retiree imprisoned in Russia after being captured in Isium, a city in Ukraine's Kharkiv Oblast that was captured by Russian forces in 2022.

Hubbard, 74, was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison after a closed trial in Russia. Russian prosecutors accused him of fighting for Ukraine as a mercenary, a charge his family contested. For Coleman, who lives in Cyprus and hasn't seen his father in years, the news of his release brought a long-awaited opportunity to see him "free and well."

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