The two Americans went missing on June 9 during a battle north of Kharkov and there were fears that they might have been captured by Russian forces, according to their families and a fellow citizen. On Friday, short videos appeared on pro-Russian channels and on social media showing the men being held in an unknown location. It was not clear then who was holding them. A State Department spokesman told CNN on Friday that “they have seen the photos and videos of these two U.S. citizens who were allegedly arrested by Russian military forces in Ukraine” and “closely monitored the situation.” “We are in contact with the Ukrainian authorities, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the families themselves,” they continued. “Due to confidentiality criteria, we have no further comments on these cases.” , Separately, an edited video of more than 50 minutes was released on Saturday in which Drueke and Huynh were interviewed by HelmCast, a pro-Russian Serbian nationalist YouTube channel. In the interview, a man is heard behind the camera revealing the location of their interview when he says, “here in Donetsk” during a question to Drueke. Drueke was also asked in the interview if he had any objections to how he was treated after his arrest and revealed that he had been beaten.
CNN chooses not to broadcast videos of American detainees because they show men talking under pressure.

About development

The Drueke and Huynh detention center is a potentially disturbing development. Russia has a moratorium on the death penalty, while Donetsk is using firing squads to execute convicted detainees, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti. On June 9, a court in the DRC sentenced foreign fighters, two British citizens and a Moroccan national, to death after accusing them of being “mercenaries” for Ukraine. The internationally unrecognized DPR court said the men had one month to appeal their verdicts. Hopes that an exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists could free any foreign fighters detained in Donetsk seem to have been dashed after Denis Pushilin, the self-proclaimed head of the DPR, said such exchanges were out of the question. “The exchange of Britons sentenced to death in the GDR is out of the question, 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 Drueke and Huynh’s detention.

A former soldier describes the battle

Speaking exclusively to CNN’s Sam Kiley, a former U.S. soldier fighting Ukrainian forces recounted the battle he saw on June 9, when Huynh and Drueke were reportedly arrested. The man, who identified himself as “Pip”, said his team had been sent on a mission east of Kharkiv where a full-scale Russian armored attack was under way. Huynh and Drueke fired an RPG at a BMP – an infantry fighting vehicle – passing through the forest and destroyed it, according to Pip. But the group had to withdraw quickly as more than 100 Russian infantry began to emerge and American fighters found themselves in a village previously believed to be in Ukrainian hands. Asked what happened to Huynh and Drueke, Pip said: “We suspect they were hit either by the T-72 tank that fired at them or by the landmine explosion. This is just speculation, we do not know what really happened to them.” . Separately, a man who acted as the group’s sergeant and who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, told CNN that “absolute chaos prevailed.” “There were about a hundred plus pedestrians walking in our positions. We had a T-72 that was shooting people from 30, 40 meters away,” he said. A photo of the two men appeared Thursday with their hands tied behind their backs and in the back of a Russian truck. The undated photo was published in the Telegram on Thursday by a Russian blogger. CNN could not independently verify when the photo was taken.

The third American is ignored

A third American, whom the State Department said was missing during the operation in Ukraine, has been identified as US Marine veteran Grady Kurpassi, his wife confirmed to CNN on Thursday. The last time Heeson Kim and other close friends heard Kurpasi was between April 23 and 24, George Heath, a family friend of Kurpasi, told CNN. Kurpashi served in the US Marine Corps for 20 years, retiring in November 2021. He chose to volunteer for the Ukrainian side in Ukraine, but initially did not envision himself fighting on the front lines of the war, Heath said. On Friday, US President Joe Biden said he had been briefed on three missing Americans in Ukraine. Speaking to reporters, Biden repeatedly said Americans should not travel to Ukraine at this time. “We do not know where they are, but I want to reiterate: Americans should not go to Ukraine now,” Biden told CNN’s MJ Lee. CNN’s Sarah El Sirgany, Maija-Liisa Ehlinger, Ellie Kaufman, Michael Conte, Jennifer Hansler, Kate Sullivan and Mick Krever contributed to the report.