Tuscaloosa, Alabama
August 11, 2022
Contact: Dianna Shaw, 205-764-3434, didigayle@yahoo.com
New Call from POW in Russian-controlled Captivity Sheds More Light on Location, Conditions
Alex Drueke, former U.S. soldier being held captive by Russian-backed forces, telephoned his mother, Lois âBunnyâ Drueke and a case manager at the U.S. Department of State this morning.
Drueke and fellow American Andy Huynh have been declared Prisoners of War by Ukrainian government spokespeople. U.S., U.K. and Ukrainian diplomats have been working together to try to ascertain their exact location.
âSeveral things he said seem to indicate they are still in the Donetsk region of Ukraine,â Mrs. Drueke said. âWhen he was able to call two weeks ago, he said they had been moved to an actual prison, so we werenât sure if they had maybe been relocated to Russia. But now I donât think they have,â she said.
âAlex mentioned the nearby bombing of a water filtration plant that left a lot of Donetsk without running water, so they have been given bottled water the past couple of days,â Mrs. Drueke said.
âHe said when he and others are being allowed time outside, they can hear bombing in the distance, but it has ânever been really closeâ,â Mrs. Drueke said. âAnd he asked if the news in America was showing that âpeople are dying here in Donetsk and Donbasâ,â she said. âPutting all this together, it sounds to me like they are still in Ukraine.â
The U.S. Department of State has not yet confirmed that Drueke and Huynh remain in the Donetsk region, a troublesome area from a diplomatic standpoint. Russia and the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) currently control the majority of Donetsk, having captured the southern and northern parts, including the city of Mariupol. The U.S. does not recognize the sovereignty of the DPR and has no diplomatic relations with them, preventing direct communications with its leaders.
His mother learned more about their conditions from todayâs conversation as well. âAlex just sounded stronger and more like himself than ever before,â she said.
âHe said he and Andy [Huynh] are still in a cell together with a third American,â Dianna Shaw, Druekeâs aunt, said. âAlex didnât give his name, but said he was born in Rwanda and has American citizenship, and that he is also âdoing fineâ,â she said.
âAlex said they keep each otherâs spirits up by playing âmind gamesâ and that they had improvised a chess board out of trash,” she said.
Drueke pressed his mother for details about the amount of coverage of the war and of their captivity in the American press. âWhile it sounds just like Alex to want to know about this, we also assume this is something his captors wanted him to ask because he kept returning to the subject throughout the call,â Ms. Shaw said.
âAlex made a couple of statements that clearly were provided to him and intended to portray Russia as non-aggressors in the conflict,â Ms. Shaw added. The family will not be repeating these to the press. âPOWs are often used for propaganda purposes, so we want to remind the public to be skeptical of any statements the men make in Russian-generated media,â she added.
The families of Drueke and Huynh continue to be briefed frequently by government officials and supported by NGOs that serve families of hostages and detainees.
Scotty Colson, Honorary Consul for Ukraine to Alabama, has invited Mrs. Drueke and Huynhâs fiancĂ©e Joy Black to meet with him on August 20, 2022 at an event of the Ukrainian-American community in Birmingham, AL being called the âFreedom Festival.â
Drueke and Huynh were serving in the Ukrainian Army when the unit they were assigned to came under heavy fire on June 9, 2022. The families first learned the men were missing in action on June 13, and received evidence of their captivity two days later.
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