Tuesday 21 June 2022 01:46 PM Russia won't guarantee the lives of two Americans captured in Ukraine trends now
The Russian government will not guarantee the lives of two American fighters who were captured by state-backed forces in Ukraine earlier this month in a sinister forecast of their fate.
Alex Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, were captured in a battle for Kharkiv on June 11. They are both believed to still be alive and recently appeared in videos released online.
However Russian officials say they will not guarantee that the men will make it out of the region alive.
In an interview on Monday night, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the pair were not protected by the Geneva Convention - which outlaws taking prisoners of war - because they were not part of the official Ukrainian army.
'It depends on the investigation,' Peskov told NBC News when asked if the two US citizens would be given the same death-by-firing-squad sentence that was handed down to British fighters Shaun Pinner, 48, and Aiden Aslin, 28.
'Those guys on the battlefield were firing at our military guys. They were endangering their lives. There will be a court, and there will be a court decision.
'They should be punished,' he said.
Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, told NBC News when asked if the two US citizens would be given the same death-by-firing-squad sentence that was handed down to British fighters Shaun Pinner, 48, and Aiden Aslin, 28
Alexander Drueke, 39, left, and Andy Huynh, 27, appeared terrified in footage released by Russian forces where they identified themselves and denounced war. They men went missing last week after their platoon in Ukraine was ambushed by Russian soldiers
It comes as a second US citizen was killed in combat in the region.
New York grandfather Stephen Zabielski, 52, was killed on May 15 while fighting in the region.
He was a husband, father and grandfather whose death was reported by a local newspaper in his hometown in upstate New York.
Stephen Zabielski, 52, was killed in Ukraine in May
The obituary said he was killed fighting in the village of Dorozhniank,
