By Russia Today

Two American nationals have told RT that they surrendered to Russian forces after being abandoned by their Ukrainian commanders. The pair told veterans like them to “think twice” before making the trip to Ukraine.

Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh spoke to RT from a detention center in the Donbass People’s Republic, a day after The Daily Telegraph reported that they had been taken prisoner. The British newspaper described them as being the first American citizens captured while fighting for Ukraine, and Washington has vowed to secure their return.

The two veterans – Drueke served two tours with the US Army in Iraq while Huynh worked in logistics for the Marine Corps in Okinawa, Japan – were captured just hours after being sent to the front lines near Kharkov last week. Under the command of Ukraine’s secret police, the SBU, Huynh said that the pair were sent to cover a Ukrainian retreat.



“We were told to post up on a little overlook,” Huynh recalled, describing how he was armed with a Czech CZ rifle and a Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG) launcher. Columns of Ukrainans retreated past their point, followed by armored vehicles and a tank belonging to either Russia or the DPR.

“When [the tank] shot the first time, I was readying my RPG,” Huynh said. He claimed that the tank shot at a different position moments later, and thinking it was firing upon him, Huynh shouldered his weapon and fired a rocket at the vehicle, but missed. With the Ukrainian troops gone, Huynh and Drueke “ran away and hid in a fighting hole,” as Russian vehicles and foot patrols passed by.

“We were initially supposed to do [reconnaissance] with drones,” Drueke told RT, “but when we got to our location there was already a battle of sorts in progress. Our plans changed…and one teammate and I were left in the woods.”

When the coast was clear, the Americans set off walking through a forest for several hours before Drueke said that they “took a wrong turn or a misstep and made it into a village. We were approached by a Russian patrol and immediately surrendered to them.”

Currently in captivity, the stakes for Drueke and Huynh are high. Last week, the Russia-allied Donetsk People’s Republic sentenced to death three foreign fighters captured during the battle for Mariupol, including two Britons. The republic’s top court ruled that they were mercenaries and thus not granted privileges that regular prisoners of war would enjoy under international law.

Both men described fair treatment at the hands of their Russian captors, describing how Russian troops gave them food, warm blankets and cigarettes. However, Drueke said that he has heard rumors that the pair could potentially be sentenced to death.

Drueke, who left the US military in 2014, initially set out for Ukraine without a clear plan. Flying to Poland with the intention of doing humanitarian work, he nevertheless brought military gear and said that he was prepared to fight, even if military service “was not the be-all and end-all.” He said that while he was distrustful of American news coverage, he believed that Ukraine’s struggle was being portrayed in a way that “would appeal to veterans like myself.”

Now, with Ukrainian shells falling on civilian targets in the majority-Russian speaking city of Donetsk, he told RT that he realized “there are two sides to this story and I was not getting one of them.”

Huynh said that he’d traveled to Ukraine in April and contacted a Polish priest overseeing humanitarian relief, but soon made contacts in Ukraine’s ‘International Legion.’ After joining the legion, he left shortly afterwards, citing corruption and disorganization within the ranks.

“Commanders were very corrupt and troops were very ill-prepared and supplied,” he said. Drueke also began his duty in Ukraine with the legion, where he said he was “dissatisfied with the caliber of person they had there.” 

Both men traveled the country looking for a more competent unit to join, before ending up in the so-called ‘Task Force Baguette’ in eastern Ukraine, a foreign mercenary unit consisting mainly of American and French veterans. The unit confirmed on Wednesday that Drueke and Huynh – referred to by their nicknames ‘Bama’ and ‘Hate’ – had been captured.

“Watching the propaganda from the West, it says how glorious all Ukraine is, and when I came here I saw how not true that was,” Huynh told RT. “The Ukrainians say they’re the best, but from what I’ve seen, I’ve seen a lot of corruption.”

Drueke ended his interview with a warning. “Fellow veterans like me who are thinking of coming: don’t.”

“Think really long and hard about why you’re doing it and what can happen, and if this is really your fight,” he said. “If I make it out of this situation, I have a lot of things to think about.”

At time of writing, the US has not officially acknowledged the capture of Drueke and Huynh. According to Russian figures, 6,956 foreign citizens from 64 countries have arrived in Ukraine since February to fight for Kiev. Some 1,956 of those have been killed, while 1,779 have left the country, the Russian Defense Ministry stated on Friday.

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26 COMMENTS

  1. When people start talking about Russian ‘barbarity’, they better stop and think about what kind of person joins a war for money. What kind of people kill for money? Murderers. These are military men, they knew exactly what they were doing. They got there and found out they were in bed with scum, then ‘shopped’ around for real action and found it. Now they want to go home, but those they helped kill?…they’re still dead. The USG is going to help them? They would be better off asking Russia for mercy. I can only wish that all of Blackwater (or whatever their name is now)were there and getting this treatment. Wiping out mercenaries would require states to use their proper military and be accountable. Mercenaries are for rotten jobs…mostly illegal and immoral and would be criminal for state militarys. The real problem for them is that they were the targets, not the targeters…something they never encountered before. As MacGregor said the other day, the wars the west has been fighting has been akin to clubbing baby seals, not fighting an equal adversary. It’s very disillusioning to find out you’re now that baby seal.

  2. Info… he has been rather accurate.. apparently has a background in the area ???

    **https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUnc496-PPmFZVKlYxUnToA?app=desktop

    the sake has an editorial page… old world..

  4. The State Duma frankly stated that the Ukrainian strike on the production towers (platforms) of the Chernomorneftegaz
    oil company in the Black Sea is becoming an action that unties the hands of the Russian Federation in terms of taking retaliatory measures. Recall that earlier information was confirmed about the Ukrainian side delivering strikes on unprotected platforms located in the area of ​​​​Snake Island. At least a few affected employees of the mining company were reported, as well as missing people. The blow, according to some reports, was delivered using attack aircraft and drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Several enemy strike weapons were eventually shot down. However, this did not prevent the enemy from causing damage to the platforms, which led to casualties, and possibly losses.

    • **https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUnc496-PPmFZVKlYxUnToA?app=desktop

      reporting the ukies were attempting to hit a russian ship N that area… the RU EWC sent the missels to the platform/missfire

      the RU then tracked bak the uki birds and destroyed the bases.. they would take off from one and land at another / that was an O-pine..

      otw the Ukis also attacked snake island.. the battle is apparently larger than reported / ongoing

    • Military Summary is also reporting large reserve units and gear massin around izlium..

      has a good review..

      predicting the final pinchers below the azo plant thenup north to cutt that bakmut area..

    • I work on an American rig before. Every week there were drills on evacuation. They make these damn drills at the worst possible time, like right at 6 PM when the day shift ends. They put on the alarm light ‘beep, beep, beep’ right when everybody starts dinner, getting showers, etc. Probably internationally done by a company man, because every company man is basically a complete asshole.

      Anyways, during these drills, there are little boats, and we all go through the hatch and sit in this cramped boat which can be lowered to the water with a hoist system. Then they do a roll call. There were two rescue boats on the rig. One was more spacious and only for the production side, secretary, and company man, and then there was the cramped one all us contractors were supposed to get in.

      Point is, if Russian rigs are anything like American, they should have some kind of emergency boats you can lower to the water. However, if the rig was attacked with several Harpoon missiles Joe Biden recently had delivered to Ukraine, they might have destroyed all the emergency boats.

    • @Mihail:
      I worked for a long time in the north of the country, building oil and gas pipelines and factories. We also often had fire evacuations of their residential modules (exercises). This is when firefighters turn on the fire alarm and stand outside with a stopwatch. The standard was: to have time to get dressed quickly and jump out into the street, where there could be frost up to 45C degrees. 250 employees lived in the Arctic module. I have not worked on oil platforms. In the north they are huge, automated. It’s a whole city in the sea. There are libraries, recreation rooms and gyms, canteens, and so on. We have simple platforms on the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. And of course, if a rocket flew there, then you can only deal with the consequences.

  5. After the liquidation of 57 senior officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by a missile strike of the Russian Armed Forces, the Ukrainian command lost control over the grouping in Lisichansk and Zolotoye.

    • Yes, Andrew, I read about this on thesaker.is. Where did you get this information from? Nothing about it in our Zionist-controlled MSM of course. If it’s true, it will radically change equation in Russia’s favor. But, it will most likely bring on a 9/11-style false-flag attack blamed on Russia. Maybe the Zionists will sink the USS Sitting Duck which will justify a nuclear attack on Russia. May Heaven preserve us all from the wrath of the chosenites.

    • Hello, Tommy! It is simple – Russian news. Everything what happens in Ukiestan – immediately reported. Like it was in Syria.
      I use topwar dot ru military webpage. It is sort of VT.

    • these R breaking

      **https://en.topwar.ru/news/
      **https://ria-ru.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

      **https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUnc496-PPmFZVKlYxUnToA?app=desktop
      **https://www.youtube.com/c/DefensePoliticsAsia

      U can open the links for telegram off of the RIA.Novosti (above)

  6. Funny how the Russians know how many foreigners came, how many died, how many chuffed off, and therefor how many are left. If I were the Ukries, and the figures are correct, I would be worried. Have a nice day folks.

  7. Wouldn’t you have to say that all-volunteer militaries like that of the USA are the same? We ended the draft in 1973. Now all military volunteers are technically mercenaries. If they become disenchanted with what our military is doing in the Middle East, it’s their own damn fault for enlisting.

    • Yep, the first motive for the suffering in the most part of the world is because there are people whom in their youth think that they can do anything without any consequence. The dictatorship of youth where we think that none can happen to us and we are able of everything. An excellent age to be manipulated by government´s since it´s harder to convince adult´s to grab a gun and fight for nothing.

    • Always remember Vietnam. That war was fought mostly by draftees. Anyone with a brain could get a 2S deferment and avoid the draft. By 1970 this was the state of our army in Vietnam according to Marine Colonel Robert D. Heinl Jr., a veteran combat commander with over 27 years experience in the Marines…

      “By every conceivable indicator, our army that remains in Vietnam is in a state approaching collapse, with individual units avoiding or having refused combat, murdering their officers and non-commissioned officers…Sedition, coupled with disaffection from within the ranks, and externally fomented with an audacity and intensity previously inconceivable, infest the Armed Services…”

  8. I’m having to tread very carefully here in America. I’ve complained everywhere in America about how the Illuminati, Satanists, and Bankers own the place. I have very few friends left. My personality is not very conducive to making friends. Anyways, one of the few remaining is a hardcore USMC vet. I’m only at the ‘friend’ level. He calls the other USMC vets his ‘brothers’, which is a level above the ‘friend’ level. I’ve tried arguing with him many a time and trying to explain how Satanists run the U.S.

    However, everything boils down to how ‘badass’ the USMC is, and how they can ‘beat everyone.’ It also boils down with his friends to the Russians being ‘damn communists’ and they buy into the all-American propaganda about how the Russian army is a joke and USMC would simply destroy them in a week. I even tried sending all the drag queen Zelensky videos etc. That didn’t work, and I’m still being accused of just believing all the ‘Russian propaganda BS’. I’d hate to lose one of my last remaining friends in America, but it’s heading in that direction. It’s unfortunate that so many in the USMC (and American armed forces in general) never get educated about how corrupt the American gov. is, even though I’ve tried in 101 different ways to explain reality.

    • Mihail, I’m sure you have friends that you don’t even know them, and sure they don’t know you, but many people have read your words and nodded their heads in agreement with you, even if they have shown no reaction, and they’ll always remember you and your words, this is always like this, everything has a price, and the price of looking for truth is that.
      Most people in all countries rather be lied to, and to be dictated to, they rather live in an imaginary bubble than in the real world, this is easier actually. Life is crap, but the good news is you’re not alone. You’ve already won if you know who is behind all this turmoil in the world. 8 billion people, we are all interconnected, fellow humans.
      And the “Illuminates”, they’re never going to win, for the sake of people like you and most of your friends in here and other places and countries.

    • I have done as you – don’t work. Do as the commies do, small steps at a time. Take e.g. the credit card interest, on your savings you got no interest but on your credit card you pay a lot of interest. Why the difference?
      If you miss a payment on your house mortgage they can take your house, can you take the bank if they cheat?
      You have to declare from were you got your money, is it reciprocally?
      From where come the money to kill off all the bees? What is inflation? Theft!!
      If you print money out of nothing are you a banker then?
      Ask simple questions depending on the resistance.
      To big a step makes them wrong, they believe and the guard is up.

  9. What is the difference between a “Killer” that you hire to kill someone (and get paid for it), and a “Soldier of Fortune” who is paid a salary to kill enemy soldiers? None, . They are both hired criminals. They charge money to kill people. They are mere criminals, hired killers. (They don’t fight for their country, they kill for money. Therefore…: to the firing squad!.

    • difference is if yo kill one man you are a murderer. Kill millions of men and you are a conqueror but if you can kill them all so you are God !!!!

  10. “…and Washington has vowed to secure their return”. Hell with that shit. Line these mercenaries up against a wall and fire!

  11. I have no sympathy for “soldiers of fortune” seeking to profit from conflict. They made their bed so they can sleep in it!

Comments are closed.