Two residents of Alabama, who are also veterans of the US Army, went missing near Kharkov. They came to Ukraine to fight on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as volunteers. Nothing is known about their fate, reports the Associated Press, citing members of the Alabama state delegation.
The Telegraph writes that 39-year-old Alexander Dryuke and 27-year-old Andy Tai Ngoc Huen were captured by the Russian military last week during the fighting in the village of Izbitskoye. The publication adds that Dryuke and Huen are considered the first Americans who were captured by the Russian military. Huen's relatives said they had not heard from him since June 8.
Officially, the American authorities did not confirm the information that Dryuke and Huen were taken prisoner, but stated that they were monitoring the situation and were in touch with the Ukrainian authorities.
On June 9, the “DPR” sentenced to death three foreign mercenaries who took part in the war with Russia on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the territory of the so-called DPR and LPR. Two British men, Aiden Eslin and Sean Pinner, and Moroccan Saadoun Brahim were sentenced to execution by firing squad.
The Russian Foreign Ministry does not consider Britons Aiden Eslin and Sean Pinner prisoners of war, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. “Contrary to the statements of British officials, the mentioned citizens are not prisoners of war, but mercenaries. The mercenaries sent by the West to help the Kyiv nationalist regime are not combatants under international humanitarian law and do not have the right to the status of a prisoner of war, ”Zakharova argued.
Lawyer 21-year-old Moroccan Saadoun Dmitry Ershov told Lente.ru that he surrendered on March 12 in Volnovakha. According to him, Saadoun moved to Ukraine in 2019, and in 2021 signed a three-year contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and, on the advice of Eslin, ended up in the 36th Separate Marine Brigade. On April 27, Kommersant wrote about lawyers Pinner and Saadoun. The publication presented them as "the first and so far the only Russian lawyers who work in the DPR and LPR." Accordingto Mediazona , earlier references to their advocacy activities could not be found.