Freed US citizen was tortured in Russian jail, former Ukrainian prisoners say

Freed US citizen was tortured in Russian jail, former Ukrainian prisoners say

Ukrainians held with freed US prisoner Stephen Hubbard have said they saw him beaten and humiliated by Russian guards during his four years in detention.

Dmytro Khyliuk first met Hubbard at Novozybkov prison in Bryansk, close to Russia’s border with Ukraine, in September 2022.

"We heard it from the guards. They came during inspections and were asking: in which cell is the American? And then they used obscene words. They threatened him, they mocked him from the first days."

Ihor Shyshko also recalls Hubbard arriving at the prison and says his nationality made him stand out to officers.

"It attracted such attention because they mocked him, forced him to learn the Russian language, sing the national anthem and repeat the rules of the prison schedule, which he could not read."

Hubbard was seized in April 2022, when Russian troops occupied the eastern city of Izyum, where he was living with his Ukrainian partner.

He was accused of serving in Ukraine’s armed forces and convicted in a Moscow trial before being handed a sentence of six years and 10 months. Shyshko and Khyliuk were held with Hubbard while he waited for trial.

Ihor Shyshko alleges that Hubbard was subjected to sexual humiliation and abuse for the entertainment of Russian prison staff

Shyshko said he saw and heard Hubbard being beaten by prison guards and shocked with a stun gun.

"They beat him on the legs, on the back, on the arms," he said. "Of course, they didn't give him food, they didn't give him medical care. They kept him in the cold.

"He was always treated more harshly, because he was an American. They claimed he was a mercenary, and said 'let's beat him'."

Shyshko, a captured Ukrainian soldier, alleges Hubbard was subjected to sexual humiliation and abuse for the entertainment of the prison staff.

The two former Ukrainian prisoners’ accounts back up claims from Hubbard’s family that he was tortured in prison.

The 74-year-old was freed by the Kremlin after four-and-a-half years, on the same day US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg to discuss the war in Ukraine.

Witkoff described the Russian President as a "humanitarian", despite the ongoing full-scale invasion and daily Russian attacks across Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump said he had asked Putin to release Hubbard during a phone call the previous week.

Dmytro Khyliuk says Hubbard was hidden in a Russian prison to conceal his condition from a team of International Red Cross visitors

Khyliuk, a journalist, was detained in the opening days of the invasion, when Russian forces moved toward the capital

Kyiv.

He said he knew Hubbard’s health was worsening over the months they were first kept in nearby cells because he heard his complaints and the guards calling him more often to take him to the prison doctor.

Khyliuk described broken windows and bitter cold, with detainees using time outside their cells to crowd into the bathroom for warmth.

"It was very difficult conditions in Novozybkov, worse than in the next prison. It was very cold there in winter, terribly cold," he said.

The two men later met the retired English teacher again at their next prison, Pakino, where Shyshko says Hubbard’s condition deteriorated.

"There was not a single spot on his knees or on his feet without rot," he said.

"Everything was rotten. We all had scabies. It was very, very difficult for him. I even bandaged him once at the medical centre, because the doctor didn't want to do it. He just couldn't do it himself, and I had to help. He was quite weak then and he almost couldn't move."

They described a harsh regime and a sparse diet of porridge, bread and potatoes, along with a daily routine of beatings and humiliation, including being forced to run or hold stress positions.

"There's a handler with a dog, who lets go so it can bite you on the buttocks, on the elbow, or bite your leg. Then these wounds fester very badly," Shyshko said.

Khyliuk said Hubbard was soon hidden after their transfer to Pakino to keep his condition from a team of International Red Cross visitors.

"I would like to say that an international humanitarian organisation that receives a lot of funding could do better. They saw only what was shown to them and they were happy with that," he said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement that "in any situation where the ICRC has been granted access, we request to see every individual and assess the conditions they are held in. We continue our discussions with parties to the conflict on this issue."

Khyliuk said Hubbard vanished from the prison in 2024 and he believed he must have been released. Khyliuk was sent back to Ukraine in August 2025 in a prisoner exchange.

He compared their treatment to the regime of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

"Russian captivity is a torture machine. From the first second of your detention, they do everything to suppress you, to intimidate you. This is torture in all its manifestations, from psychological to physical. Beatings, hunger, cold, lack of any information, lack of the opportunity to communicate even with other prisoners".

Khyliuk said he was glad to see Hubbard finally freed and on his way to the US.

"I understand what it is like to be in terrible captivity. Moreover, it was not his war. He ended up in the wrong place and at the wrong time," he said.

But he called the timing "shameful PR of the US president, who is losing votes in elections to Congress".

Shyshko said he hoped their torturers would one day be brought to justice.

"Evil must be punished, and so it will be. I have hope for that".

Hubbard was sentenced to almost seven years in a penal colony in 2024, accused of serving in a defence unit in eastern Ukraine