Captured U.S. citizens Alexander John-Robert Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, were interviewed by Russia’s RT channel at a detention center in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Friday, June 17, according to a report. published in RT. (Bunny Drueke / Joy Black)
Two U.S. volunteer fighters for Ukraine were detained by Russian-backed separatists in Donetsk after being captured by Russian forces last week, according to Russian state media.
Alexander John-Robert Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, of Hartselle, Alabama, were interviewed by Russia’s RT channel at a detention center. called the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Friday, according to a report published in RT.
Missing near Kharkiv: The two Americans went missing on June 9 during a battle in northern Kharkiv and it was feared they might have been captured by Russian forces, according to their families and a comrade-in-arms.
Video Appearances: On Friday, short video clips appeared on pro-Russian channels and social media that appeared to show the men detained in an unknown location. It was not clear then who was wearing them.
A State Department spokesman told CNN on Friday that “they have seen photos and videos of these two American citizens captured by Russian military forces in Ukraine.”
“We are following the situation closely and our heart goes out to their families during this difficult time,” they said. “We are in contact with the Ukrainian authorities, the International Committee of the Red Cross and with the families themselves … for privacy reasons, we have no further comment on these cases.”
Separately, a more than 50-minute edited video of Drueke and Huynh was released on Saturday, being interviewed by HelmCast, a pro-Serbian nationalist YouTube channel.
Donetsk: In the interview, a man can be heard behind the camera revealing the location of his interview when he says “here in Donetsk” during a question to Drueke.
Beaten while in custody: The interview also asks Drueke if he has any objections to how he has been treated since his capture and reveals that he has been beaten several times.
Why its location is significant: The location of Drueke and Huynh’s detention is a potentially troubling development. Russia has a moratorium on the death penalty, while Donetsk is using firing squads to execute convicted prisoners, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti.
Foreign fighters: On June 9, an RDP court sentenced foreign fighters, two British nationals and a Moroccan man to death after accusing them of being “mercenaries” for Ukraine. The internationally unrecognized DRP court said the men had a month to appeal.
The prisoner exchange was shattered: the hope that a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and the pro-Russian separatists could release any foreign combatant detained in Donetsk was thwarted after Denis Pushilin, the self-proclaimed leader of the DPR, said that exchanges were out of the question.
“The exchange of British men sentenced to death in the DPR is not under discussion, there is no reason to pardon them,” Pushilin told the independent Russian investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta on Thursday.
The Donetsk People’s Republic did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the arrest of Drueke and Huynh.
CNN chooses not to air videos of U.S. detainees because they show men talking under duress.