Russia has released new photos and a video showing two American fighters who were caught in Ukraine.
27-year-old Marine Andy Huynh and 39-year-old U.S. Army veteran Alexander Drueke were captured by Russian forces after their 10-men squad was surrounded while defending the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.
The Russians have since taken the two men into custody and forced them to speak in Russian in a video that has since been shared on social media.
“My name is Alexander Drueke, I am against war,” Drueke said in the video before adding: “Ya protiv voyny [I am against war].”
“Ya protiv voyny,” Huynh was then heard repeating.
In another clip, Drueke addressed his mother and expressed his hopes to return home.
“Mom, I just wanted to let you know that I’m alive, and I hope to be back home as soon as I can. Love you,” he said.
The newly-released photos come shortly after the pair were pictured at the back of a military truck with their hands tied behind their backs.
It has since come to light that Huynh was never in active combat before joining the war in Ukraine even though he was in the Marines for four years.
Drueke, on the other hand, is a former Army sergeant who served two tours in Iraq.
Both men are from Alabama, but it is not clear whether they knew each other before flying to Ukraine or not.
The fighters were reportedly captured on June 9 after Russian forces surrounded their squad in Kharkiv.
“We were out on a mission and the whole thing went absolutely crazy, with bad intel. We were told the town was clear when it turned out the Russians were already assaulting it,” one of the soldiers’ comrades explained in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.
“They came down the road with two T72 tanks and multiple BMP3s (armored fighting vehicles) and about 100 infantry. The only thing that was there was our ten man squad.”
He added: “We suspect that they were knocked unconscious by either the anti-tank mine, or by the tank shooting at them, because later search missions found not sign of them, nothing.
“Afterwards we sent drones up and had a Ukrainian search team on the ground but we found nothing: if they had been hit by the tank shell there would have been remains of their bodies or equipment at the scene.”
Since the Americans’ capture, their families have pleaded with their government to bring the soldiers back home alive.
“We just really want him back. He’s got such a big heart. He knew this wasn’t an easy thing but this was the right thing. Even though not great things have happened, I’m still really, really proud of him,” Huynh’s fiancée, Joy Black, told GMA.
Bunny, Drueke’s mother, added: “He wanted to go over and help train Ukrainian soldiers and show them how to use the equipment that the US has been sending over there for them.”
Meanwhile, the US State Department suggested little to no action was so far taken to assist the two captives.
“As of today, we have not raised this yet with the Russian Federation. (We) haven’t seen anything from the Russians indicating that two such individuals are in their custody,” spokesman Ned Price said Wednesday.
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