A man acting as a team sergeant, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, gave CNN photos of the passports of both men and their entry stamps to Ukraine. The man said their unit was fighting under the command of the 92nd Ukrainian Mechanized Brigade on June 9, near the town of Izbytske. Drueke and Huynh, he said, went missing during the battle and subsequent search missions failed to find any remains. A post on a Russian propaganda channel the Telegram the next day claimed that two Americans had been arrested near Kharkov. “It was a complete mess,” he told CNN. “There were about a hundred plus pedestrians walking in our positions. We had a T72 shooting at people from 30, 40 meters away.” Alexander’s mother, Bunny Drueke, told CNN that “they are supposed to be prisoners of war, but this has not been confirmed.” She said the US embassy in Ukraine was unable to verify if her son had been arrested. “They could not verify that he is with the Russians. The only thing they can verify is that he is missing at this point,” he said. “They are in close contact with me and I have full confidence that they are working on the situation.” Huynh’s fiancé Joy Black told CNN: “We do not want to make assumptions about what might have happened at the moment. They are obviously looking at different scenarios. And one of them is that they may have been arrested. confirmation at this time “. A State Department spokesman said Wednesday that he “has unconfirmed reports of two U.S. citizens being arrested in Ukraine.” “We are closely monitoring the situation and are in contact with the Ukrainian authorities,” he said. “Due to privacy settings, we have no further comments.” The White House said Wednesday it could not confirm the reports, but National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said “if true, we will do everything we can to bring them home safely.” . Both Bunny Drueke and Black told CNN that their last contact with loved ones was on June 8, when their husbands told them they would be offline for a few days on a mission. “It was a pretty normal conversation actually: I told him I was having dinner with my friends at our favorite restaurant,” Black said. “And he said, ‘I love you very much.’ And then he said, “I will be unavailable for two to three days.” Which I learned was for the operation they did “. They got engaged in March, shortly before he left for Ukraine, he said. “We did not know if we wanted to get married or engaged before he left. And we decided to get engaged just so that when he returns we can get married and enjoy it and not be apart right after the wedding.” Now, he said, it is “very fragile.” “Although great things have not happened, I am still very proud of Andy being strong,” he added. Bunny Drueke said she had “ups and downs”. “I try to stay calm and brave, because losing everything will not help Alex in the slightest. So I’m just trying to stay calm,” he said. Drueke and Black later explained to CNN’s Anderson Cooper in a joint interview with “AC360” on Wednesday afternoon that selflessness and love for the United States fueled their loved ones’ decision to go to Ukraine. “He is one of the most loyal Americans you would ever hope to meet and he was proud to have served his country,” Drueke said of her son. He said, “Mom, I really have to go and help fight in Ukraine, because if Putin does not stop there, he will not be satisfied, he will be encouraged and eventually the Americans will be threatened.” Fighting tears, Black told Cooper that her fiancé “did not go there for selfish reasons or for anything. He really had this gnawing in his heart and this heavy burden on him to go and serve people as best he could.” “I know this is not a great situation, but I’m still very proud of him. I just want to see him back safely,” he said. This story has been updated with additional references. CNN’s Jennifer Hansler, Kaitlan Collins and Devan Cole contributed reports from Washington, DC.
