Two of the American fighters thought to have been captured by Russian forces in Ukraine last week have suddenly surfaced in Russian propaganda videos, confirming their families’ worst fears that they’ve wound up in enemy hands.
Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, were seen looking worse for wear in videos shared by Russian state media on Friday. Though the two had officially joined Ukraine’s military as volunteers in the war, the Russian headlines described them as American “mercenaries.”
In what appears to be a heavily edited video released by Russia’s Izvestia newspaper, Huynh said he had been influenced by “propaganda” and “exaggerated facts” in the news before joining the war. He went on to deny reports of Russian troops killing civilians.
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“When I came here, I discovered that that wasn’t the case,” he said.
While he spoke in English, the video featured a Russian voiceover that appeared to attribute quotes to Huynh that he could not be heard saying in the clip, such as that the “Western media” didn’t report on the Ukrainian military being “incompetent” and “corrupt.”
Huynh was also featured in another, much briefer video, uttering, “I am against war” in Russian.
“My name is Alexander Drueke, I am against war,” Drueke echoed in a video shared by Kremlin-owned RT, before switching to Russian to repeat his disapproval for the war.
Another 10-second video showed Drueke reassuring his mother that he’s alive, and telling her, “I hope to be back home as soon as I can be.”
The Telegraph broke the news of their capture earlier this week, quoting a comrade who’d fought alongside them as saying both Drueke and Huynh had vanished after a “crazy” mission in the Kharkiv region that went sideways. The U.S. State Department has said it is working to verify reports of the men’s capture, as well as their whereabouts.
“Unfortunately, we don’t know the full details of that case,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters at a Thursday briefing. He said U.S. officials had not yet been in touch with Russian authorities about the men, as it was not yet clear if they were in Russian custody.
A third American who joined in the fight against Russian forces is also missing, he said.
Chris Bowyer, a member of the same unit that Drueke and Huynh joined but who left in late May, told The New York Times on Thursday that the pair had apparently been captured as a result of bad intel.
“It was supposed to be a reconnaissance mission,” Bowyer was quoted saying. “They were briefed that the village was secure, that the Russians had been thrown out of it, and then they showed up in the middle of a Russian assault.”
President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday that he has been briefed on reports of three Americans missing in Ukraine, but said their whereabouts were unknown.
“We don’t know where they are, but I want to reiterate: Americans should not be going to Ukraine now,” he said.
The capture of Drueke and Huynh, as well as the disappearance of another American vet, retired Marine Corps officer Grady Kurpasi, comes amid calls by Russian authorities for the death penalty to be used against any “foreign mercenaries” caught fighting on behalf of Ukraine.
Although Russia currently has a moratorium on the death penalty, Russian proxies in Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk have already sentenced three other foreign volunteers to death after they were captured during battles in Mariupol.
Although those three were given a month to appeal the death sentence, Denis Pushilin, the leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, told reporters earlier this week that there was no “basis” for the men to be pardoned.
