"He looks terrible to us. As his parents, we know he does not look well," Paula Reed told CNN outside their home in Granbury, Texas.

    The Reeds said they hoped to see their son as early as Thursday.

    Biden met with Reed's parents on March 30. The following week, the parents said a prisoner swap seemed to be the only way to bring Reed home and urged the White House to take all possible steps.

    "The American plane pulled up next to the Russian plane, and they walked both prisoners like you see in the movies," Joey Reed told CNN.

    The months of tense diplomacy that led to Reed's release focused strictly on securing his freedom and were not the beginnings of discussions on other issues, senior Biden administration officials said. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the swap followed a lengthy negotiation process.

    Russian news agencies reported on April 4 that Reed had ended a hunger strike and was being treated in his prison's medical center. The prison service said Reed had gone on hunger strike on March 28 to protest disciplinary action against him.

    Reed's parents said at the time he had been exposed to an inmate with active tuberculosis in December. The prison service said Reed had repeatedly tested negative for tuberculosis.

    The Reeds said their son would tell his story when ready.

    "We'd respectfully ask for some privacy while we address the myriad of health issues brought on by the squalid conditions he was subjected to in his Russian gulag," they said.

    Biden said his administration will continue to work for the release of Whelan and others. Whelan has been held on spying charges that he denies and that he has likened to a political kidnapping.

    Whelan's family said they worried that the deal made with Russia on Yaroshenko dimmed prospects for Whelan's release.

    "Is President Biden's failure to bring Paul home an admission that some cases are too hard to solve?" they asked in a statement. "Who gets saved is the president's choice."

    U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was detained at a Moscow airport on Feb. 17 when a search of her luggage allegedly revealed multiple cannabis oil vape cartridges. She faces up to 10 years in prison.