Posted on 06/15/2022 9:48:13 AM PDT by Mount Athos
Two former US servicemen have been captured during fighting with Russian forces in Ukraine, The Telegraph has been told.
Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, had been serving as volunteers with a regular Ukrainian army unit.
A comrade of the two men, who asked not to be named, told The Telegraph said that they had been captured after running into a much larger Russian force during a battle last Thursday.
"We were out on a mission and the whole thing went absolutely crazy, with bad intel," he said. "We were told the town was clear when it turned out the Russians were already assaulting it.
"They came down the road with two T72 tanks and multiple BMP3s (armoured fighting vehicles) and about 100 infantry. The only thing that was there was our 10-man squad."
The squad set up defensive positions, during which time Mr Drueke and Mr Huynh fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a Russian vehicle, destroying it.
That, however, drew the attention of one of the tanks, which fired a shot in their direction but which is thought to have missed.
Shortly afterward, the tank was crippled by an anti-tank mine that the Ukrainian squad had left in the road. The two Americans then vanished in the fog of battle, and are thought to have been captured by the Russian infantry soldiers.
"We suspect that they were knocked unconscious by either the anti-tank mine, or by the tank shooting at them, because later search missions found not sign of them, nothing," their comrade said.
He said his suspicions were confirmed later that night when a message appeared on a Russian Telegram channel claiming that two American servicemen had been taken PoW near Kharkiv.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
He said his suspicions were confirmed later that night when a message appeared on a Russian Telegram channel claiming that two American servicemen had been taken PoW near Kharkiv.
The information came from a Uke source, Russian channel simply repeated it. There is no official confirmation from Russia — and no evidence to think these two mercenaries are even alive.
I found out they were part of “Task Force Baguette”, probably an unofficial name.
They are a squad of 10 men, all foreign fighters attached (or part of) a regular Ukraine government military unit.
Their official twitter account says they have some French speakers on their team. They have multiple clips, a few showing them in action.
https://nitter.net/TFBaguette/status/1527495489461043206#m
Thanks, I’d have to guess you’re right
Right, this is the original message, re-broadcasted by Russian channels. The actual names of the two seem to come from SBU.
Mercenary units seem to be separate for the most part (obvious reasons — communications, most mercenaries do not know local languages).
—
And a little background 4u: Zelensky whined about huge losses in Donbass and north of Kharkov yesterday.
Donbass is obvious, but why north of Kharkov? Well, because Ukrainians moved the brigade that was defending it into the Donbass meatgrinder, the result was that the minimal Russian screen there went on an offensive and captured a few minor towns while decimating the remaining Nazi forces. The Russians there are not anywhere sufficient in numbers to capture Kharkov itself, but there is no defense line anymore.
Kharkov cemetery now (one of many) shown here:
The two mercs may be there and the entire capture story may be a hoax to begin whining on the subject “what happened to these two poor fellows?”
It looks like there may be 100s of “foreign volunteers” now trapped in the Severodonetsk chemical plant. They were sent on an insane mission last week, basically like adding guys to the Alamo the day before it’s surrounded. Now they can’t get out in any direction, like in the Mariupol steel plant.
And this time, as many as 100s might be foreign, and dozens might be Americans.
Word is, Ukraine wants civilians to evacuate that area westward, but they blew the only bridges across a river that might enable that. So the Russians have said they are willing to evacuate civilians to the east, into the LPR or Russia itself.
Foreign fighters are labeled mercenaries. They are not national combatants. They get no Geneva Convention protections. They become categorized as murderers and they get tried by an LPR court. This is bad news for the individuals. LPR sentenced some Brits to death last week and the same will happen to the Americans.
Bargaining their release will have a heavy price.
Jump in here at 14 minutes.
Many “foreign volunteers” including Americans are trapped in the Severodonetsk chemical plant, totally cut off.
Ukraine. Military Summary And Analysis 14.06.2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZRJiKlHoms&ab_channel=MilitarySummary
Note: The way Military Summary pronounces “routes,” it sounds like “roads.” He means “routes.”
See above. Watch carefully starting at 14 minutes to 20 minutes.
“Potential 600 death penalties.”
(Including many Americans.)
I’m really skeptical of the numbers estimates for Azot, because they kept climbing so dramatically.
First they say 200, then 300, then 600, and most recently someone said 2500? The estimate for number of civilians also dramatically increased.
There was an intriguing idea of an exchange mentioned by a Russian politician: swap 2 British mercs for Assange.
Excellent.
Now they’re going after the Germans? Crazy!
Sounds a little odd.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.