Two US citizens missing, feared captured, in eastern Ukraine鈥攆amilies

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Two U.S. citizens missing, feared captured, in eastern Ukraine -families

U.S. citizen Alexander Drueke poses for a picture before leaving for Ukraine, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S., March 28, 2022. Picture taken March 28, 2022. Lois Drueke/Handout via REUTERS

Two U.S. citizens who traveled to Ukraine as volunteer fighters against Russian forces have been missing for a week and are feared captured, family members said on Wednesday.

Alexander Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Andy Huynh, 27, of Hartselle, Alabama, were last in contact with their families on June 8 and did not return from a mission around the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine.

Reports that the two men have been taken prisoners of war by Russia are unconfirmed, the families and a U.S. State Department spokesperson said.

鈥淲hat we know officially at this point from the State Department is that Andy and Alex are missing,鈥� Joy Black, Andy鈥檚 fiancee, said by phone.

鈥淲e do not have confirmation for anything beyond that. Obviously the longer the search goes the more we start to consider other scenarios,鈥� she added.

Russia鈥檚 defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If the pair have been captured, they would be the first confirmed U.S. citizens to have been taken as prisoners of war in the conflict that began on Feb. 24 with Russian President Vladimir Putin ordering an invasion of its neighbor.

U.S. citizen Alexander Drueke and his mother, Lois Drueke, pose for a picture ahead of him leaving for Ukraine, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S., March 28, 2022. Picture taken March 28, 2022. Louis Drueke/Handout via REUTERS

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said that if the reports are true, the United States 鈥渨ill do everything we can鈥� to get them back.

Last week, two British citizens and a Moroccan were sentenced to death by a separatist court in the unrecognized Russian-speaking Donetsk People鈥檚 Republic after being caught fighting for Ukraine.

Lois Drueke, Alexander鈥檚 mother, said she had been in contact with the U.S. Embassy for Ukraine, located in Poland, who were searching for the pair.

Both men had told their families on June 8 they would be going offline for a few days, but did not provide details, for fear of their communications being intercepted.

Drueke served two tours in Iraq, the last as a lead gunner in Baghdad in 2008-09, his mother said. Huynh is a former U.S. marine who left the service in 2018, his fiancee said.

They said the men did not know each other before meeting in Ukraine, but both felt compelled to support the government after seeing pictures of civilian casualties as Russia retreated from towns outside Kyiv in late March.

鈥淲hen Andy saw this footage coming out of Ukraine he said he couldn鈥檛 sleep, couldn鈥檛 eat, was just consumed by the horror that these innocent civilians were going through,鈥� said Black.

Russia denies attacking civilians and has accused Western citizens of acting as 鈥渕ercenaries鈥�, saying Western support for Kyiv is dragging out the conflict and leading to more casualties.

鈥淎s a mother of course I didn鈥檛 want my child in harm鈥檚 way,鈥� Lois Drueke said. 鈥淏ut I knew that it was really important to Alex, he wanted a purpose to his life and he felt that this was good and noble.鈥�

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