US State Department says a third American is reportedly missing in Ukraine
By Michael Conte and Jennifer Hansler, CNN
The US State Department said they are aware of reports that a third American who traveled to Ukraine to fight against Russia has gone missing “in recent weeks.”
“There are reports of one additional American whose whereabouts are unknown. I can’t speak to the specifics of that case. Unfortunately we don’t know the full details of that case,” said State Department Spokesperson Ned Price at a press briefing on Thursday.
Price said the department is in contact with the families of the two other US citizens reportedly captured in the country, as well as Ukrainian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross, but that they similarly could not confirm reports that these two citizens were captured.
On Wednesday CNN reported that Alexander John-Robert Drueke, 39, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, from Hartselle, Alabama — who had been fighting alongside Ukrainian forces north of Kharkiv — have been missing for nearly a week and there are fears that they may have been captured by Russian forces, according to their families and a fellow fighter.
“We continue to urge in every way we can American citizens not to travel to Ukraine because of the attendant dangers that is posed by Russia’s ongoing aggression,” said Price.
Price also said that the US is not in contact with Russia about the reportedly captured American citizens because they do not yet have “credible reason” to believe the Russians have captured them and also because Russia has not claimed to have captured them.
“If we feel that such outreach through our embassy in Moscow or otherwise would be productive in terms of finding out more information on the whereabouts of these individuals, we won’t hesitate to do that,” said Price.
Price also said the US is in contact with “other partners,” including the United Kingdom, over “this issue broadly.”
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