Two former US soldiers disappear in Ukraine

• Former US soldiers who were fighting in Ukraine disappear.
• They were fighting in the war against Russia
• What we know so far.

Two former US soldiers, who were fighting near Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, have been missing for a week and there are fears that the Russian forces may have captured them, their families told local media, according to Infobae and the EFE agency.

The White House said it could not confirm whether the Americans had been captured. However, they said if this is true, the government would do «everything it could» to bring them back to the United States. The missing ex-soldiers are Alexander J. Drueke, 39, who was previously in the US Army, and Andy Tai Huynh, 27, who was in the Marine Corps, according CNN and The Washington Post.

THEY MADE ONE LAST CALL

According to what their families told the media, both Drueke and Huynh called them by phone on June 8 to say they would not be able contact them for some time because they were going to undertake a mission that would last several days. They have not made contact since. Drueke’s mother, Lois, told The Washington Post that on Monday she received a call from another American who was in Ukraine with her son and who claimed that he had intercepted information indicating that both former soldiers had been captured by the Russians.

Drueke had told his family that he was in Ukraine to teach that country’s forces how to use weapons made in the United States. Huynh volunteered to fight with the Ukrainians, his fiancée, Joy Black, told the Post. At a press conference at the White House, National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby said he cannot confirm whether the Americans have been captured.

WHAT IS BEING DONE TO FIND THEM?

«We will do everything we can to follow the situation and find out what we can about it,» Kirby said, again calling on the Americans not to go to Ukraine. “It is a war zone. There are fights. If you want to support Ukraine, there are other ways to do it,” he stressed. The United States has urged its citizens not to go to Ukraine, but hundreds are believed to have disobeyed the warnings and gone to fight Russia.

The exact number of Americans in Ukraine is not known. When the war started in February, Ukrainian authorities said 4,000 had expressed an interest in going. At least one American, 22-year-old Willy Joseph Cancel, has been killed in combat. According to the Post, Cancel was a former Marine who had fought in Iraq and left the military in 2010.

WHAT DO PEOPLE CLOSE TO THE MISSING MEN SAY?

Rep. Robert Aderholt said Huynh volunteered to fight with the Ukrainian army against Russia, but his family has not heard from him since June 8, when he was in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine near the Russian border. Huynh and Drueke were together, according to an Aderholt collaborator.

«As you can imagine, his loved ones are very concerned about him,» Aderholt said in a statement. «My office has launched inquiries with both the State Department and the FBI to try to obtain any information possible.» U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell said Drueke’s mother contacted her office earlier this week after losing contact with her son. Filed Under: Ukraine Military Disappear

WHAT DOES THE STATE DEPARTMENT SAY?

The State Department said it is investigating reports that Russian or pro-Russian separatist forces in Ukraine may have captured at least two Americans. If confirmed, they would be the first Americans fighting for Ukraine known to have been captured since the war began on February 24.

«We are closely monitoring the situation and are in contact with Ukrainian authorities,» the agency said in a statement sent to reporters via email. They declined to comment further, citing privacy concerns. John Kirby, a White House national security spokesman, said Wednesday that the administration could not confirm reports of missing Americans.

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