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Two U.S. Army veterans have disappeared in Ukraine and are feared to have been captured by Russian forces, relatives of the missing Americans said Wednesday.
Alexander J. Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Huynh, 27, both of Alabama, went missing in recent days near Kharkiv, a Ukrainian city not far from the Russian border, according to their families. Drueke had served in the U.S. Army and Huynh is a Marine Corps veteran, they said.
In the telephone interviews, both families shared similar accounts in which the men had contacted them on June 8 to tell them that they would be inaccessible during a multi-day mission. Neither has been known since, they said.
Drueke’s mother, Lois, said she received a phone call Monday from another U.S. citizen stating she was in Ukraine with her son. The person who called, whom he did not identify, told him that the intercepted communications suggested that Russian forces had detained two Americans, he said.
The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Alexander Drueke had told the family he was teaching Ukrainian troops how to use U.S.-made weapons, his mother said.
“Alex felt very strongly that he had been trained so that he could help the Ukrainians to be strong and push Putin back,” he added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “He went there not to fight, but to train.”
Joy Black, who identified herself as Huynh’s girlfriend, said she had volunteered to fight alongside Ukrainian forces. On Monday, he also received a phone call from someone who looked like an American who told him that Huynh had disappeared.
“The response we have received from our government has been very helpful,” Black said. “They’ve taken it very seriously. We got the call on Monday morning, and that just went up so high, so fast.”
The news of the disappearance of the Americans was first reported on Wednesday by the Telegraph of London. The State Department said the Biden administration, which has discouraged Americans from joining the war effort, was “aware of the unconfirmed reports of two US citizens captured in Ukraine.” , but declined to comment further.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and are in contact with the Ukrainian authorities,” the statement said. “… We also reiterate once again that American citizens should not travel to Ukraine because of the active armed conflict and the distinction of American citizens in Ukraine by the Russian government security officer.”
Speaking to the media on Wednesday afternoon, White House spokesman John Kirby said he had no information to share about the missing Americans or whether the U.S. government believes they have been arrested.
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The situation creates another challenging scenario for the United States in its diplomacy with Russia. The Kremlin has detained other Americans for months or years, including WNBA star Brittney Griner and Marine Corps veteran Paul Whelan. Another Russian-arrested American, Navy veteran Trevor Reed, was released in exchange for prisoners in April.
It is unclear how many Americans have joined the war. Shortly after the conflict began in late February, Ukrainian officials said some 4,000 had expressed interest in doing so.
At least one U.S. citizen, Navy veteran Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, has been killed in action.
Drueke toured Iraq twice with the U.S. Army, and left in 2010 as a staff sergeant, his mother said. He had struggled with post-traumatic stress since leaving the army, but seemed to find a purpose in the mission in Ukraine, he added.
Huynh served in the Marine Corps for several years, including on the Japanese island of Okinawa, his girlfriend said.
The Washington Post could not immediately verify the military service history of either man.
Lois Drueke said she last spoke to her son on the phone on June 5 and then received a message three days later on the encrypted communications platform Signal. His message said that “it would get dark” and that he would not be there for a few days, and that he would get back in touch after completing a task.
Alice Crites and Missy Ryan contributed to this report.