Americans fear capture near Russian border
Two US military veterans from Alabama who traveled to Ukraine to help repel the Russian invasion are missing and fear they were captured by Russian troops or Russian-backed separatists, family members have said .
The US State Department is investigating reports that Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, of Trinity, Alabama, and Alexander Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, were not heard from for days after being in the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine, near the Russian border.
Huynh’s fiance, Joy Black, said Huynh told him on June 8 that he would be unavailable for a few days. On Monday, she was informed that Huynh and Drueke had missed their meeting and were in an area hard hit by Russian airstrikes.
“He went there to volunteer because he really cares about himself,” Black told WAAY-TV in Alabama. “It had really weighed like a heavy burden on his heart for quite a while before he left. He wanted to go do what was right.”
White House spokesman John Kirby said the United States discouraged Americans from fighting for Ukraine.
“It’s a war zone. It’s a fight,” Kirby said. “If you feel passionate about supporting Ukraine, there are plenty of other ways to do it that are safer and just as effective. Ukraine is not where Americans travel.”
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Latest developments
►Japanese low-cost airline Zipair Tokyo is dropping the “Z” logo on its planes as it has become a pro-invasion symbol in Russia.
►NHL officials will not allow the Stanley Cup to travel to Russia or Belarus this summer, forgoing the unofficial tradition of allowing players from those countries to travel there while spending a day with the cup. Officials have notified the Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche of the decision.
►President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on oil producers to cut the cost of gas, telling them in a letter that “in the midst of a war that has driven gas prices up more than $1.70 a gallon, historically high refinery profit margins compound that pain.”
French, German and Italian leaders in Ukraine see ‘stigma of barbarism’
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived in Ukraine to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today as they prepare for a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels the next week and a NATO summit on June 29-30 in Madrid, Spain.
Macron tweeted a video of the devastation in Irpin, a town of 60,000 about 15 miles west of Kyiv.
“We saw the devastated city and the stigmata of barbarism,” Macron wrote. “And the heroism, too, of the Ukrainians who stopped the Russian army as it descended on Kyiv. Ukraine is resisting. It must be able to win.”
Allies pledge more support for Ukraine, US military leaders say
Dozens of countries are joining the United States in strengthening their commitment to support Ukraine’s efforts to fight the Russian invasion, US military leaders said Wednesday after meeting with 50 allies in Brussels.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, joined by Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced that the Pentagon would send $1 billion worth of weapons to help Ukraine’s effort to blunt the Russian offensive in the eastern region of Donbass.
The package, the 12th approved by Biden since August, includes long-range rocket-assisted artillery, Harpoon anti-ship missiles and more conventional howitzer guns and ammunition. American allies have also pledged to continue supporting the Ukrainian military.
“The international community does not allow this unambiguous act of aggression by Russia to go unanswered,” Milley said.
The Ukrainians said they needed more long-range and conventional artillery, armored vehicles and anti-aircraft systems, Austin said.
“It’s never enough,” Austin said. “And so we will continue to work hard to move as many capacities as possible, as quickly as possible.”
– Tom Vanden Brook
USA Today
