By Yuliya TalmazanNBC
News
The family of a Marine veteran who went missing fighting in Ukraine believe he is alive and is being held as a prisoner of war, a spokesman said.
Grady Kurpasi, 49, has not been heard from since April 23, spokesman Don Turner said Saturday, adding that his loved ones want answers about what happened to him.
When Kurpasi last spoke to his family from Ukraine, Turner said,
he was "in good spirits" and "felt like I was doing the right thing
. "
He added that Kurpasi, who had three combat deployments to Iraq, had traveled to Ukraine for "humanitarian" reasons.
Kurpasi, he said, "was just trying to help people however he could."
Navy Capt. Grady Kurpasi speaks to students at an assembly at Swansboro Elementary School in Swansboro, North Carolina, on January 25, 2019. Lance Cpl.
Aaron Douds / 2nd Marine Division
His family believes “it is possible
that he is a prisoner of war at this point
,” Turner said, adding that they believe he has already been transferred from where they believe he was in southern Ukraine.
Although the family says they have not received "substantial" updates from the State Department on the soldier's whereabouts, Turner said they have been conducting their own
investigation to try to track down Kurpasi
using "open source networks and just doing research and calling the people and asking questions.
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Asked what he would say to the Russians if they held Kurpasi captive, Turner replied: "
I think what the family would ask is just that they give us an answer
."
As for a message to Kurpasi himself, Turner said: “We know you are a strong bastard.
Keep going".
NBC News has asked the Ukrainian and Russian defense ministries for comment.
Kurpasi and two other US citizens have been reported missing in Ukraine in a week.
Andy Huynh, 27, and Alexander Drueke, 39, both from Alabama, were reported missing by their families last week.
Huynh's fiancée, Joy Black, 21, said Thursday that he is a former Marine who left the service in 2018. Drueke's mother, Lois, said her son served two tours in Iraq, the last as a gunner. leader in Baghdad in 2008-09.
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Videos of Huynh and Drueke were shown on RT, an international television station controlled by the Russian state, on Friday, confirming their families' fears that the men may have been captured.
The broadcaster said they were being held captive by Moscow-backed separatist forces in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, The Associated Press reported.
NBC News has asked the State Department for comment on the Kurpasi case.
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A State Department spokesman said Friday that US officials were "monitoring the situation closely."
He also reiterated President Joe Biden's earlier call that US citizens "
should not travel to Ukraine due to armed conflict
."
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The United States has insisted that the Russians have an obligation to treat captive Ukrainian soldiers, as well as volunteers from other countries incorporated into the Ukrainian armed forces, as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.
But two British citizens and a Moroccan, whom Russian authorities have labeled "mercenaries", were sentenced to death this month by pro-Moscow separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.