Families say 2 U.S. citizens who went to fight in eastern Ukraine are missing


Two U.S. citizens who went to Ukraine to fight against Russian troops are missing, and their families are worried that they have been captured.
Both men — 39-year-old Alexander Drueke of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and 27-year-old Andy Huynh of Hartselle, Alabama — were last in contact with relatives on June 8. "What we know officially at this point from the State Department is that Andy and Alex are missing," Huynh's fiancee, Joy Black, told Reuters on Wednesday. "We do not have confirmation for anything beyond that. Obviously the longer the search goes, the more we start to consider other scenarios."
Drueke and Huynh were both fighting in the Kharkiv area, and told their families on June 8 they would be offline for a few days. The men, concerned that their communications might get intercepted, did not share why. Drueke and Huynh met in Ukraine, and their families said they both traveled there to fight after seeing photos of Ukrainian civilians killed by Russian forces. "When Andy saw this footage coming out of Ukraine, he said he couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, was just consumed by the horror that these innocent civilians were going through," Black said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
If Drueke and Huynh, who both served in the U.S. military, have been captured, they would be the first known U.S. citizens taken as prisoners of war since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Reuters reports.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
How drone warfare works
The Explainer From Ukraine to Iran, it has become clear that unmanned aircraft are rapidly revolutionising modern warfare
-
The tourist flood in the Mediterranean: can it be stemmed?
Talking Point Finger-pointing at Airbnb or hotel owners obscures the root cause of overtourism in holiday hotspots: unmanageable demand
-
5 warmongering cartoons about congressional approval
Cartoons Artists take on the War Powers Act, media bias, and more
-
How drone warfare works
The Explainer From Ukraine to Iran, it has become clear that unmanned aircraft are rapidly revolutionising modern warfare
-
How long can Nato keep Donald Trump happy?
Today's Big Question Military alliance pulls out all the stops to woo US president on his peacemaker victory lap
-
How far would Russia go for Iran?
Today's Big Question US air strikes represent an 'embarrassment, provocation and opportunity' all rolled into one for Vladimir Putin
-
Are the UK and Russia already at war?
Today's Big Question Moscow has long been on a 'menacing' war footing with London, says leading UK defence adviser
-
Is UK's new defence plan transformational or too little, too late?
Today's Big Question Labour's 10-year strategy 'an exercise in tightly bounded ambition' already 'overshadowed by a row over money'
-
How will the MoD's new cyber command unit work?
Today's Big Question Defence secretary outlines plans to combat 'intensifying' threat of cyberattacks from hostile states such as Russia
-
What are the different types of nuclear weapons?
The Explainer Speculation mounts that post-war taboo on nuclear weapons could soon be shattered by use of 'battlefield' missiles
-
The secret lives of Russian saboteurs
Under The Radar Moscow is recruiting criminal agents to sow chaos and fear among its enemies