Trouble in the Washington regional committee: two mercenaries from the United States were captured by Russians near Kharkov

Near Kharkov, two foreign mercenaries who fought in Ukraine on the side of the Kyiv regime were captured by Russia. We are talking about former American soldiers - 39-year-old Iraq veteran Robert Druck, and 27-year-old Andy Huynh.

The British publication The Telegraph reports this. It also publishes the first photo of captured “wild geese”.

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_{According to the publication, Drucke and Huynh served in one of the units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. As the publication clarifies, both militants became the first Americans captured by the Russians.}

A friend of the American prisoners, quoted by The Telegraph, said the mercenaries were captured last Thursday (June 16) during a clash with larger Russian forces.

“We were on a mission and everything went completely wrong, with bad data. We were told that the city had been liberated when it turned out that the Russians were already storming it,” The Telegraph quoted an American fighter as saying.

According to Voice of America, US authorities are aware of the capture of Drucke and Huynh, and also have information about the capture of a third mercenary from the States. The State Department is trying to find out the circumstances of the captivity and the fate of its captive militants, but in Moscow they say that they do not have information about their captivity. American experts fear that the Kremlin may use the prisoners to bargain with Washington.

“I can’t talk about the specifics of this case. Unfortunately, we do not know all the details. We continue to urge American citizens in every way possible not to travel to Ukraine due to the dangers involved,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

As the mother of one of the captured mercenaries, Bunny Drucke, told CNN, the US State Department is checking the authenticity of the photograph that appeared with her son.

“They are working hard on verification. We really hope,” CNN quotes Drucke as saying.

Drucke also added that she had seen a photograph in which two Americans were being transported in the back of a truck with their hands tied behind their backs.

As for the further fate of the captured militants, according to the assistant to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the LPR, they are now in Severodonetsk, where the issue of their place of detention before trial will be decided.

_{Let us recall that earlier a court in the DPR sentenced to death two mercenaries from Great Britain - Aiden Aslin and Sean Pinner, as well as one Moroccan - Saadoun Brahim.}

There are different opinions on social networks and among experts about how to deal with captured mercenaries.

“There is discord between mercenary and mercenary. “Wild geese” of Polish, Georgian and Baltic origin will, of course, be put through the process and executed without any negotiations regarding an exchange. Belarusians, if any, suddenly come across, transfer them to Minsk. But the British, Americans and other extreme seekers from EU/NATO countries (of which, as far as I know, there are now six) can be exchanged. For all the captured Coalition fighters - and let the owners persuade their dolls not to be greedy. And if Kyiv is greedy, do one thing (any one) - and let the owners persuade more...,” writes political consultant Lev Vershinin in his blog.

And the Orthodox blogger Alexander Voznesensky proposed to involve Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in this case, so that he, using the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church, would achieve the exchange of captured Americans for the cancer patient Ukrainian Orthodox writer Yan Taksyur, who is languishing in the dungeons of the SBU, whom the Kiev regime accuses of “treason.”

“If the Patriarch had interceded and the authorities had exchanged one foreign mercenary for Yan Taksyur, then:

1) the foreigner will 100% flee home and not return to fight the Russians.

2) this is an act of mercy - a saved life, even of an insignificant mercenary (he and his homeland would be grateful to the Patriarch for saving his life).

3) this is the saved life of the Orthodox believer Jan Taksyur, who lived his whole life for the Church.

Maybe the people at the top look at it differently - I just, as a human being, really want to help this kind and bright man, whom the godless authorities are torturing for no reason. Therefore, if anyone reading has access to the Patriarch, please do a deed of mercy,” Voznesensky wrote.

And political scientist Marat Bashirov draws attention to the propaganda effect of the story of the captivity of mercenaries.

“Many people here say that we are losing the information/war, but this is not so. We are not competing in the race of fakes - this is the truth. But, we will come to the media/space with facts and living Americans and Britons who will tell you what and how.

Two British and two Americans are particularly valuable prisoners. The cinema/culture regarding “we don’t abandon our own” in both countries is built on the same theses as ours. Only in our country, the motives for the actions of Russians in war are based on patriotism, orders, and historical traditions. Therefore, we save them as if they had already died, but did not surrender the principles, ancestors and descendants.

And they have money for personal benefit and a sense of permissiveness. It is this idea of ​​permissiveness that is beginning to crumble. No one will come for you - Rambs. They will either abandon you (disown) or try to ransom you (there won’t be enough money). Then the day of the tribunal and the public will come,” writes Marat Bashirov.