2 U.S. Veterans Missing – They May Be Victims of War
(NewsReady.com) – Two American veterans have gone missing in Ukraine after a mission seemingly went horribly wrong. The men had volunteered to help defend Ukraine against the Russian invaders. Now, it looks like they’re prisoners of President Vladimir Putin’s army.
U.S. veterans who went to Ukraine after Russia's invasion have gone missing: Two U.S. veterans who volunteered to join the fight against Russia in Ukraine have been reported missing by their families. via NBCNews https://t.co/GRjGNrkRr3
— Jeffrey Levin 🇺🇦 (@jilevin) June 16, 2022
Alexander Drueke (39) and Andy Huynh (27) are two of the many US veterans who have traveled to Ukraine to defend the country from Russia. On June 9, their 10-man squad was checking out a village 5 miles from the Russian border when they unexpectedly ran into an enemy mechanized infantry company and two tanks. Drueke, a former US Army staff sergeant who did two tours in Iraq, and ex-US Marine Huynh used an RPG-7 rocket launcher to cover the Ukrainian withdrawal, but were fired at by one of the tanks. They didn’t make it out with the rest of the squad, and later searches by drones and a foot patrol found no sign of them.
Now, the pair are officially listed as missing — but a social media channel linked to the Putin regime has released a photo of two “captured American mercenaries,” who resemble Drueke and Huynh, handcuffed in the back of a truck.
Although foreign volunteers are enlisted into the regular Ukrainian armed forces, therefore are protected by the Geneva Conventions, Russia insists they’re unprotected mercenaries. Two captured British-born Ukrainian marines have already been sentenced to death; it’s likely Russia plans to use the threat of executing captured volunteers as a lever in negotiations with western governments.
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