Video appearing to show 2 missing Americans released by Russian media
Families are anxiously awaiting any information on the fates of Americans who have gone missing in the war in Ukraine.
Russian media showed video of two of the men, Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, who are apparently in Russian custody, though the Kremlin says it doesn't know anything about Americans being held by Russia.
But a member of their squadron told CBS News he is 100% certain that video and photo circulating on Russian media are real.
"It's his body language, it's his voice," Bunny Drueke, Drueke's mother, told CBS News.
"It sounds like him. It looks like him," she said. "But then he did stress that if there was ever a video shown of him to not believe anything that he said, to know that he was being coerced into saying what they wanted put out."
President Biden said Friday that the U.S. doesn't know where Drueke and Huynh are, and he warned Americans to stay out of Ukraine.
The pair vanished about a week ago in Eastern Ukraine, where fighting has been brutal as Russian forces seek to crush Ukrainian resistance and take control of the entire Donbas region. A member of their squadron said the Americans, both veterans, fired on a Russian vehicle the night they went missing. The act, the fighter said, was nothing short of heroic and probably saved the lives of everyone there."
CBS News spoke to another American who said he fought alongside Drueke and Huynh in Ukraine.
"We knew that by going over there and serving for the government of Ukraine, that little to no protections would be extended to us and that the United States Government would be powerless to help us," said the American, who asked not to be identified.
It may be Ukraine's war, but more and more Americans are fighting in it. A third American fighter has gone missing on the front lines. Retired Marine Capt. Grady Kurpasi, a 20-year veteran, reportedly disappeared after taking small-arms fire in the Kherson region.
For those captured, their fate rests in the hands of Russia, where lawmakers are already discussing the death penalty.
