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Post by Admin on Jun 16, 2022 1:05:32 GMT
‘He went there to volunteer’: Two Americans missing, feared captured in Ukraine 22 views Jun 16, 2022 Two Americans, Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh and Alexander John-Robert Drueke, who were fighting alongside Ukrainian forces north of Kharkiv, have been missing since June 9, following a battle near the town of Izbytske. Huynh’s fiancé, Joy Black, and Drueke’s mother, Bunny Drueke, join CNN’s Anderson Cooper to talk about the efforts to find their loved ones. #CNN #News
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Post by Admin on Jun 18, 2022 10:20:26 GMT
Russian media release videos of 2 Americans taken captive in Ukraine 19,381 views Jun 18, 2022 Russian state-controlled media shared a video of 27-year-old Andy Huynh delivering pro-Russian propaganda. Another video shows 39-year-old Alexander Drueke delivering a message to his mother.
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Post by Admin on Jun 20, 2022 21:23:37 GMT
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Monday that the Geneva Conventions — a series of agreements on, among other things, international standards for the treatment of people captured during war — would not apply to the two Americans believed to have been captured by Russian or pro-Russian forces in Ukraine in recent weeks. Peskov's comments come days after Russian media released video appearing to show the two men, 39-year-old Alexander Drueke and 27-year-old Andy Huynh.
Peskov told MSNBC's Keir Simmons that he considers the two men to be "soldiers of fortune" who were not enlisted in the Ukrainian army — which means, he said, that Russia does not believe they are protected under the Geneva Conventions. When pressed on whether Russia knows for sure that the two men were not members of the Ukrainian military, Peskov said the matter will be "investigated in due course."
He also alleged the two men, as a result of their supposed status as mercenaries, were involved in "illegal activity," including firing on and shelling members of Russia's military.
"They should be held responsible for those crimes that they have committed," he said.
Concern began to grow over the whereabouts of Huynh, who served in the Marines, and Drueke, an Iraq War veteran, last week. Fellow soldiers told British newspaper The Telegraph that the pair were volunteering with a unit of foreign fighters in the Ukrainian army when they disappeared.
U.S. military veterans Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh and Alexander Drueke left their homes in Alabama to serve with Ukraine's army on the battlefield. They were reportedly captured by Russian forces during fighting in eastern Ukraine in June 2022. Earlier in June, one Moroccan and two British fighters who had been captured were sentenced to death by firing squad for fighting alongside Ukrainian forces. The three men were tried and convicted in a Russian-backed separatist court in Donetsk, one of the two major regions in Ukraine's Donbas.
The U.S. State Department said last week that it's also looking into reports of a third American missing in Ukraine. A family friend identified the person as Retired Marine Captain Grady Kurpasi, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. military.
Peskov in his interview with Simmons also spoke about Brittney Griner, the American WNBA star who was arrested in Russia in February for allegedly carrying vape cartridges with oil derived from cannabis. Griner's pre-trial detention period has since been extended multiple times.
When Simmons said the U.S. government is now approaching Griner's detention as a hostage situation, Peskov said he would "strongly disagree" with that characterization.
"We cannot call her hostage," he said. "Why should we call her hostage? She violated Russian law, and now she's being prosecuted. It's not about being a hostage."
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Post by Admin on Jun 22, 2022 1:42:38 GMT
Another American has been killed in Ukraine, State Dept. confirms 2,418 views Jun 22, 2022 Stephen Zabielski, 52, was fighting in Ukraine when he died in May, according to a local newspaper obituary. The State Department confirmed he died in Ukraine, but could not speak to the specifics of his death. After Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s comments to NBC News about two captured Americans, the National Security Council’s John Kirby said it’s “appalling” that a Russian public official would even suggest the death penalty.
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Post by Admin on Jun 24, 2022 18:56:41 GMT
Inside the secret training bases for foreign soldiers fighting for Ukraine - BBC News 129,508 views Jun 24, 2022 Thousands of foreign fighters have joined Ukrainian armed forces since Russia invaded the country in February.
BBC correspondent Olga Malchevska gained access to a secret training camp, the International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine, for those arriving in the country to fight.
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