The household of certainly one of three U.S. service members who’ve gone lacking in Ukraine believes he could have been captured following a conflict with Russian forces in japanese Ukraine earlier this month.
U.S. servicemen Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, had been reported lacking earlier this week following the June 9 skirmish with Russian forces, and the State Division introduced Thursday {that a} third U.S. citizen can be nowhere to be discovered.
Drueke, a former U.S. Military workers sergeant who served two excursions in Iraq and a Ukrainian Military volunteer, was a part of a Ukrainian platoon that got here below heavy fireplace on June 9 whereas holding a strategic place, and when the platoon dropped again, everybody was accounted for besides Dureke and Huynh, Drueke’s household stated in an announcement to Fox Information Digital.
Floor and drone surveys haven’t displayed any signal of Drueke so far.
(Lois “Bacunny” Drueke/Diane Williams)
STATE DEPARTMENT MONITORING REPORT OF US FIGHTERS CAPTURED IN UKRAINE
“This might imply they’re in hiding or it may imply they’ve been captured,” Drueke’s mom, Bunny Drueke, stated in an announcement.
The final time she spoke to her son on the cellphone was June 5, and the final time she obtained a textual content was on June 8.
“[G]oing darkish for nearly all of tomorrow. Probably the following day too,” his final textual content learn, in response to his household.
Drueke, a former U.S. Military workers sergeant who served two excursions in Iraq and a Ukrainian Military volunteer, was a part of a platoon that got here below heavy fireplace on June 9.
(U.S. navy veteran Alexander Drueke of Tuscaloosa, Ala. Drueke)
On June 13, she obtained a textual content from one other platoon member informing her of her son’s and the opposite lacking U.S. serviceman’s disappearance.
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Drueke left the U.S. in mid-April and entered Ukraine by way of Poland. He made contact with Ukrainian forces from there and helped practice troopers working drones and different weaponry earlier than being assigned to a platoon.
“When Russia invaded Ukraine, Alex instantly informed me he needed to go use his abilities to coach Ukrainians in the right way to function American weaponry,” Bunny Drueke stated. “He isn’t married, he doesn’t have children, and he has the coaching and the expertise. He felt it was his obligation to assist defend democracy, wherever wanted.”
Ukrainian emergency service personnel work exterior a broken constructing following shelling, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, June 4, 2022.
(Sofiia Bobok)
Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., have assisted the household in contacting the State Division, U.S. Embassy of Ukraine and Worldwide Purple Cross.
Drueke can be 40 on June 24. He had been mountain climbing the Appalachian Path in early 2020 earlier than it was shut down as a result of COVID-19 and had been residing in rural West Alabama till leaving for Ukraine.
Huynh, a former Marine, additionally reportedly traveled from his residence state of Alabama to battle in Ukraine in April, has not been heard from since June 8 when he informed his fiancee, Pleasure Black, that he could be unreachable for the following “few days.”
Andy Huynh hasn’t been heard from in days in response to kin and are contemplating lacking.
(Jeronimo Nisa/The Decatur Each day)
“He was telling me for a number of days that ‘I’m going to be busy quickly,'” Black beforehand informed Fox Information Digital. “He didn’t inform me what particularly as a result of I don’t assume he needed to fret me.”
The State Division informed Fox Information Digital on Wednesday that it was conscious of unconfirmed reviews of the 2 lacking People. The Division is urging People to not journey to Ukraine.
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State Division spokesman Ned Worth stated Friday that “there are reviews of 1 extra American whose whereabouts are unknown,” however he couldn’t “communicate to the specifics of that case.”
“We’ve not raised this but with the Russian Federation. If we really feel that such outreach by way of our embassy in Moscow or in any other case could be productive when it comes to discovering extra data on the whereabouts of those people, we can’t hesitate to do this,” he stated.
Fox Information’ Ronn Blitzer, Jacqui Heinrich, Caitlin McFall and Ashley Pappa contributed to this report.
