After Russia released an American prisoner, President Trump’s special envoy praised President Vladimir V. Putin as “a humanitarian.” Our White House and national security correspondent, David E. Sanger, describes how the release comes amid Mr. Trump’s broader shift toward Russia and away from Ukraine.

Mr. Hubbard, a 74-year-old teacher, was held for more than four years on what the State Department called fabricated charges.

© Moscow City Court Press Service

The move buys good will with President Trump while costing the President Vladimir V. Putin — who is wanted for war crimes — little.

© Moscow City Court, via Associated Press

Stephen Hubbard was a wanderer. But when he moved to Ukraine, the war brought arrest, torture and imprisonment. He turns 73 this week.

The president called for the return of Stephen James Hubbard, a Michigan teacher seized from his home in Ukraine months after Russia invaded that country.

© Moscow City Court, via Reuters