Two Americans captured by russians near Kharkiv – mass media

According to The Telegraph, two former US servicemen were taken prisoner during the fighting with russian troops in Ukraine.

Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, were taken prisoner during a fierce battle near Kharkiv last week, according to comrades who were fighting together with them.

The Americans had been serving as volunteers with a regular Ukrainian army unit. They are believed to be the first US servicemen to end up as russian prisoners of war.

According to the newspaper, the capture of the two Americans will be diplomatically problematic, as the kremlin may seek to use it as proof that the US is becoming directly involved in the war. vladimir putin, the russian president, is likely to demand significant concessions in exchange for their release.

A comrade of the two men, who asked not to be named, told The Telegraph that they had been captured after running into a much larger russian force during a battle last Thursday.

“We were out on a mission and the whole thing went absolutely crazy, with bad intel,” he said. “We were told the town was clear, but then it turned out the russians were already assaulting it. They came down the road with two T72 tanks and multiple BMP3s armoured fighting vehicles and about 100 infantry. The only thing that was there was our 10-man squad.”

The squad set up defensive positions, meanwhile Drueke and Huynh fired a grenade launcher at a russian car, having destroyed it. That, however, drew the attention of one of the tanks, which fired in their direction, but probably missed.

Shortly afterwards, the tank was crippled itself by one of the anti-tank mines. The two Americans then vanished in the fog of battle, where they are thought to have been captured by the russian infantry soldiers.

“We suspect that they were knocked unconscious by either the blast from the tank shooting at them, or from the anti-tank mine blowing up, because later search missions found no sign of them,” said their comrade.

“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.”

He said his suspicions were confirmed later that evening when a russian Telegram channel reported that two American servicemen had been taken prisoner near Kharkiv.

“It is too much of a coincidence for that to have happened otherwise – we are the only Americans fighting in this area.” Mr Drueke, 39, is from Alabama, and signed up with the US Army earlier, serving in Iraq. His mother Lois, 68, told The Telegraph that he struggled to hold down a job after leaving the army and had to abandon a new career as a policeman, because it aggravated his PTSD.

“The US Embassy has assured me that they are doing their best to find him and that they are looking for him alive, not dead. I hope they will exchange him for russian prisoners of war.”

Andy Huynh was born in California but lived in Alabama. He previously served in the United States Marine Corps.