Currents News Staff
They’ve been missing for nearly a week now: two Alabama natives fighting alongside Ukrainian forces just north of Kharkiv vanished during a chaotic battle with Russian forces on June 9.
The mother of one of the missing men says they are presumed to be prisoners of war, but that has not been confirmed.
“If they’re together, Andy and Alex, we don’t want one to come home without the other,” said Bunny Drueke, the mother of one of the Americans.
The fiance of one of the men said she just wants her partner back safely.
“I know it’s not a great situation,” said Joy Black, the fiancé of an American who was feared captured by Russian forces. “But I’m still very proud of him and I just want to see him back safely.”
Meanwhile in Washington, the Defense Department has unveiled a new $1 billion-dollar assistance package they’re sending to Ukraine to help fight the Russian invasion..
“That includes a drawdown of security assistance valued up to $350 million,” said John Kirby, Pentagon Press Secretary. “That’s where the Department of Defense pulls from their stocks, as well as $650 million in equipment that’s provided to the Ukraine security assistance initiative funds. That’s where the Pentagon will go out and procure material, according to that amount, to then just provide directly to Ukraine. So the two different buckets of that billion dollars.”
A senior U.S. Defense official believes that the latest Ukrainian aid package will arrive in time to make a “significant difference” on the battlefield, as the war is believed to be in the phase where Russia will continue to only make incremental gains “for a while.”
“This is the 12th time that President Biden has authorized presidential drawdowns to help Ukraine defend its democracy,” said Kirby. “And that brings the total amount of security assistance that we provided to Ukraine to approximately $5.6 billion – since Russia launched its assault.”