Two American citizens, who traveled to Ukraine to volunteer for Ukrainian military forces, have been missing for a week and there are fears they will be caught, the Reuters news agency reported tonight (Wednesday to Thursday).
The two, 39-year-old Alexander Druck and 27-year-old Andy Hoyn, residents of the state of Alabama, last contacted their families on June 8.
Since then they have not returned from their mission in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine.
It should be noted that the State Department spokesman and the families of the volunteers said that the reports that the two were taken in value were not verified.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said if the reports were true, the United States would "do everything in its power" to bring them back.
Lois Druck, Alexander's mother, said she was in contact with the US embassy in Ukraine, located in Poland, which was looking for the couple. The two told their families on June 8 that they would be offline for a few days, but did not provide details, fearing their phones .
Druck was deployed twice in Iraq, when his last position there was as chief gunner in Baghdad in 2008-2009, his mother said.
Hoyn's fiancée said he left the U.S. military in 2018.
The destruction in Kharkiv, Photo: API
"At this point, what we officially know from the State Department is that Andy and Alex are missing," said Joy Black, Andy's fiancée.
"We have no clearance for anything beyond that. It is clear that as the search for them continues, so we begin to consider other scenarios," she added.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense has so far not responded to the absence of the two American volunteers.
Russia denies abducting civilians and calling Westerners taking part in the war "mercenaries."
Russia further said that Western support for Kiev is dragging the conflict and leading to more casualties. If the two are captured by the Russians, they will be the first U.S. citizens to fall in value since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.
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