(The Guardian) US pushing Kremlin to reveal location of veterans captured in Ukraine
The US embassy in Russia this week was pressing the Kremlin to reveal the whereabouts of two Alabama men captured in Ukraine while defending the country from Russian invaders, according to the mother of one of the taken Americans.
Lois “Bunny” Drueke also said late Wednesday that her son, Alexander Drueke, and the other captured US military veteran, Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, were not mercenaries but volunteers, pushing back on statements from a Kremlin spokesperson who said the American pair are facing execution.
Therefore, Drueke’s mother added, he and Huynh deserve the humane treatment mandated by the treaties collectively known as the Geneva conventions despite Russia’s claims that they do not apply to the Americans who are taking part in the conflict in Ukraine. “Alex and Andy are prisoners of war and must be afforded protections and humane treatment accordingly,” Bunny Drueke said.
Her statements came a day after Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accused Drueke and Huynh of being soldiers of fortune who had “threatened the lives” of military service members of Russia and its controlled, self-proclaimed peoples’ republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The US embassy in Russia this week was pressing the Kremlin to reveal the whereabouts of two Alabama men captured in Ukraine while defending the country from Russian invaders, according to the mother of one of the taken Americans.
Lois “Bunny” Drueke also said late Wednesday that her son, Alexander Drueke, and the other captured US military veteran, Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, were not mercenaries but volunteers, pushing back on statements from a Kremlin spokesperson who said the American pair are facing execution.
Therefore, Drueke’s mother added, he and Huynh deserve the humane treatment mandated by the treaties collectively known as the Geneva conventions despite Russia’s claims that they do not apply to the Americans who are taking part in the conflict in Ukraine. “Alex and Andy are prisoners of war and must be afforded protections and humane treatment accordingly,” Bunny Drueke said.
Her statements came a day after Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accused Drueke and Huynh of being soldiers of fortune who had “threatened the lives” of military service members of Russia and its controlled, self-proclaimed peoples’ republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
