President’s social media post says sites should pay the communities where they will be located and comes amid growing unpopularity of facilities
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Witkoff announced this morning that Russia authorities had freed Hubbard, the first American known to be convicted of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.
Hubbard, who grew up in Michigan, had been living with his Ukrainian wife in the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum. He was arrested when the Russians briefly took over the city at the start of the war in 2022.
In 2024, he was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison by a Russian court. But he has always denied being involved with any combat or military unit, saying that the Russians just took him from his house.

