US “should be protected as prisoners of war”… Russia says mercenaries are not subject to protection
Biden: “I don’t know where the missing person is… Americans shouldn’t go to Ukraine”
Russian media have released videos of two Americans held captive in battle in Ukraine, Reuters reported on the 17th (local time).
According to reports, Russian newspaper Izvestia and local state broadcaster Russia Today (RT) released a short video of Andy Huin (27) from Hatsell, Alabama, and a photo of Alexander Druk (39) from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, respectively. did.
On the Telegram app, the bearded man said in an American accent, “I am Alexander Druk.
A six-second video was posted saying, “I am against war.”
He repeated the words “I am against war” in Russian.
In another two-second video, the man who reported that Izvestia was the latter said in Russian, “I am against war.”
Reuters said the video and photos could be the first evidence that the two Americans had been taken prisoner.
However, the Russian Ministry of Defense did not respond to a request for confirmation of these reports.
Earlier, British media, such as The Telegraph, reported that two Americans, Alexander Druk and Andy Huin, who voluntarily joined the Ukrainian army, were captured by Russia during the battle.
Their family also feared they might have been taken prisoner, saying they had lost contact in Ukraine for a week.
Meanwhile, the State Department confirmed that one additional American was missing.
State Department spokeswoman Ned Price said at a briefing that “there are reports that an additional American has not been identified.”
The Washington Post reported family claims that former U.S. Marine Corps officer Grady Kurpasi, 49, went missing in the Kherson area in late April.
Kurpasi, who left for Ukraine in early March, lost contact on April 26 after being placed at a surveillance post to evacuate civilians.
“Ukrainian soldiers, including volunteers from third countries who joined voluntarily, must be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions,” Price said. should be received,” he said.
On the other hand, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov referred to foreign volunteers as mercenaries and said, “They are not legally fighters and therefore cannot be protected under the Geneva Conventions.”
“We don’t know where they are,” US President Joe Biden said when asked by reporters about the whereabouts of American prisoners of war as he left for his home in Delaware for the weekend.
“Again, Americans should not go to Ukraine now,” he said.
/yunhap news
