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

ByDan Johnson Ukraine correspondent in Kyiv.

Key points

• Dmytro Khyliuk first met Hubbard at the Novozybkov prison in Bryansk, not far from Russia's border with Ukraine, in September 2022.
• When Russian soldiers occupied the eastern city of Izyum, where he was living with his Ukrainian partner, hubbard was captured in April 2022.
• Khyliuk asserted that shortly after their transfer to Pakino, Hubbard was hidden to conceal his condition from a team of International Red Cross visitors.
• Khyliuk remarked Hubbard disappeared from the prison in 2024 and he thought he must have been issued.
• Witkoff praised the Russian President as a "humanitarian", despite the ongoing full-scale invasion and daily Russian attacks throughout Ukraine.

Ukrainians held alongside freed US prisoner Stephen Hubbard have remarked they witnessed him being beaten and humiliated by Russian guards during his four-year detention.

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

Ihor Shyshko additionally remembers Hubbard's arrival at the jail and states his nationality marked him out to the 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."

He was accused of serving in Ukraine's armed forces and convicted in a trial in Moscow before being sentenced to six years and 10 months. Shyshko and Khyliuk were held alongside Hubbard as he awaited trial.

Shyshko remarked he witnessed and heard Hubbard being beaten by prison guards and electrocuted with a stun gun.

They beat him on the legs, on the back, on the arms, he remarked. Of course, they didn't offer him food, they didn't provide him medical care. They kept him in the cold.

Since he was an American, "He was always treated more harshly. They asserted he was a mercenary, and stated '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.

Accounts from the two former Ukrainian prisoners corroborate statements created by Hubbard's family that he was tortured in prison.

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

US President Donald Trump remarked he had asked Putin to free Hubbard during a phone call the week before.

When Russian troops advanced towards the capital Kyiv, khyliuk, a journalist, was held in the earliest days of the invasion.

He remarked he knew Hubbard's health was declining over the months they were initially held in nearby cells as he heard his complaints and the guards calling him more often to see the prison doctor.

Khyliuk described broken windows and biting cold, with detainees using time out of their cells to huddle together in the bathroom for warmth.

"It was particularly challenging conditions in Novozybkov, worse than in the next prison. It was particularly cold there in winter, terribly cold, " he stated.

Both men encountered the retired English teacher again at their next prison, Pakino, where Shyshko notes Hubbard's condition worsened.

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

"Everything was rotten. We all had scabies. It was particularly, highly tough for him. Since the doctor didn't want to do it, I even bandaged him once at the medical centre. He just couldn't do it himself, and I had to support. He was quite subdued then and he almost couldn't move."

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

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

"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 remarked.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross remarked in an official note 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 matter."

Khyliuk remarked Hubbard disappeared from the prison in 2024 and he thought he must have been issued. Khyliuk was returned to Ukraine in August 2025 in a prisoner exchange.

He likened 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 remarked he was pleased to see Hubbard finally issued and heading to the US.

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

But he described the timing as "shameful PR of the US president, who is losing votes in elections to Congress". Shyshko remarked he hoped one day their torturers would face justice.

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

In short, freed US citizen was tortured in Russian jail, former Ukrainian prisoners say is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.