Exclusive to DailyExpertNews’s Sam Kiley, a former US soldier who fought with Ukrainian troops told of the battle he witnessed on June 9, where US volunteer fighters Alexander John-Robert Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh were allegedly captured by Russian forces.
The man, who asked for identification codenamed “Pip”, said his team was dispatched on a mission east of Kharkov, where a large-scale Russian armored attack was underway.
Drueke and Huynh fired a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) at a BMP vehicle passing through the forest and destroyed it. But the team had to quickly withdraw when more than 100 Russian infantry began advancing and the American fighters found themselves in a village they previously believed was in Ukrainian hands.
When asked what happened to Drueke and Huynh, Pip said that “we suspect they were taken out by either the T-72 tank firing at them or the mine explosion. This is just speculation, we know not what really happened to them.”
On Thursday, a photo surfaced of the two men with their hands tied behind their backs and in the back of a Russian truck.
“I’m sure Andy and Alex didn’t come here for money, they didn’t come here for glory. They came here with a firm belief that Ukraine as a thriving democracy needs help,” Pip told Kiley during the interview.
“As far as I know, we are paid about the same, if not exactly the same, as a Ukrainian soldier on the front lines… And money certainly isn’t my motivation for being here. And I know it isn’t. Andy’s and it’s not Alex’s either,” he continued.
More background: On Wednesday, DailyExpertNews reported that Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Huynh, 27, of Hartselle, Alabama, had been missing for nearly a week and feared they may have been captured by Russian troops, according to their families. and a comrade. Drueke and Huynh fought alongside Ukrainian forces north of Kharkiv.
DailyExpertNews reported Thursday that a third American identified by the State Department as missing in Ukraine was US Navy veteran Grady Kurpasi. He served in the US Marine Corps for 20 years and retired in November 2021.
US President Joe Biden said Friday that he had been briefed on the three Americans missing in Ukraine. In brief remarks to reporters as he left for a weekend at the beach in Delaware, Biden repeatedly said Americans should not travel to Ukraine at this time.
“We don’t know where they are, but I want to reiterate: Americans shouldn’t be going to Ukraine right now,” Biden said in response to a question from DailyExpertNews’s MJ Lee at the White House.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the ministry is in contact with the families of the missing Americans, Ukrainian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The US State Department told the family of one of the missing Americans in Ukraine on Thursday that there may be evidence that Drueke was captured, but could not verify the photo at the time, Bunny Drueke, Alexander’s mother, told DailyExpertNews.
On Friday, videos surfaced on pro-Russian channels and social media showing that Drueke and Huynh were detained in an unknown location. It is not clear who is holding them.
Price said Thursday that the US has not had any contact with Russia about the allegedly imprisoned US citizens because it has not yet had a “credible reason” to believe that the Russians have captured them and also because Russia has not claimed to have captured them.
On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told DailyExpertNews he knows nothing about the two American fighters. DailyExpertNews has repeatedly reached out to Russia’s defense ministry for comment, but has not yet received a response.
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Kate Sullivan and Jonny Hallam of DailyExpertNews covered this post.