Robert Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, were serving in the Ukrainian army when they were arrested in Kharkov last week, The Telegraph reported. “We were out on a mission and the whole thing was completely crazy, with bad knowledge. “We were told the city was clear when it turned out that the Russians had already attacked it,” a man who fought with the two told the newspaper. He said the two had disappeared in a confrontation with Russian forces and the search that followed in the area “found no sign of them, nothing”. The two are believed to be the first American volunteers to be captured by Russian forces since the February 24 invasion. Earlier Wednesday, a Twitter account run by a task force made up of former US and French soldiers announced that two Americans had been taken prisoner. There was no immediate confirmation from the Ukrainian authorities, although the statement noted that the fate of the men had been “confirmed by the Ukrainian intelligence services”. “We have not heard anything about their prosperity,” the statement said, adding that the Americans were arrested when “a week ago our group ended up isolated in the middle of a Russian attack.” The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Intelligence did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the news came as Russian officials redoubled their calls for the death penalty to be carried out against foreign volunteers in Ukraine. During the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova praised the recent death sentences handed down to two British nationals and a Moroccan citizen by Russian proxies. British citizens Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin, along with Moroccan national Ibrahim Saadun, were all officially part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces when they were arrested amid heavy fighting in Mariupol. Russian-backed authorities rushed to a trial against the group in less than three days and sentenced him to death last Thursday. “Such a harsh sentence, it seems, will become a clear example for all the other so-called soldiers of fortune who fight on the side of the Ukrainian neo-Nazis or intend to join them, because this is a crime against the civilian population of Donbass,” he said, reiterating the distorted The Kremlin’s narrative that the neo-Nazis control Ukraine despite the fact that the president himself is Jewish. The speaker of Russia’s State Duma also offered a threatening view Wednesday on the fate of those being held captive by Russian proxies in Ukraine. Vyacheslav Volodin urged Russian-backed proxies in the occupied Donetsk region to use the death penalty against those captured during the war. “The death penalty is a measure of punishment that these fascists deserve,” he wrote in the Telegram, accusing those fighting for Ukraine of “crimes against humanity.” While Russia currently has a moratorium on the death penalty, it said “there is a rule [Donetsk People’s Republic] that it would be right to maintain. “It’s especially important in times of war.” Russia’s Defense Ministry has repeatedly claimed that foreign volunteers fighting for Ukraine are “mercenaries” who are not protected by international humanitarian law, despite the fact that the men are officially enlisted in the Ukrainian army. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov told reporters earlier this week that British authorities hoping to appeal the death sentence against Pinner and Aslin should not turn to Moscow for help, but to the “authorities of the country whose court issued the sentence “, ie Russian proxies in unrecognized People’s Republic of Donetsk. While the fate of the foreign prisoners hangs in the balance, friends and loved ones of the Ukrainian troops who were captured defending the Mariupol Azovstal steel plant begged the world not to forget them. Hundreds of Ukrainian defenders remain trapped in territories occupied by Russian proxies, their conditions are unknown. A video appeal released Wednesday by the Azovstal Association of Families of Defenders called on international journalists and the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the penitentiary colony in the occupied city of Olenivka where many of the men are being held. Ukrainian authorities say more than 2,500 Ukrainian defenders have been arrested in Russian captivity in Azovstal, with some crossing the border and others being thrown into penal colonies run by Russian proxies. “We must not forget the heroes of Azovstal,” the team said, adding that “people need to know the truth.” Many members of the families of those held captive by Russia have stated that they have not received any information about the men or heard from them for weeks. “Under the Geneva Convention, they have the right to call their relatives twice a week to confirm that they are OK. “We did not get a call once,” said Tatiana Karko, the sister of one of the Ukrainian defenders. “The soldiers fulfilled their duty, they did everything to protect our country. … And now it is the duty of the state to do everything to protect them there. We understand what kind of methods Russia can use. We know all these methods. And we do not want to [those methods used]”Because our soldiers do not deserve this,” said Ekaterina Prokopenko, the wife of a Russian Azov commander.
