Biden says U.S. doesn't know where missing Americans are in Ukraine
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Friday that the U.S. doesn't know the whereabouts of three Americans believed to have gone missing in Ukraine and urged others not to travel to the country.
"I have been briefed. We don't know where they are," Biden told reporters Friday. "I want to reiterate, Americans should not be going to Ukraine now. I'll say it again, Americans should not be going to Ukraine now."
Two U.S. veterans who volunteered to join the effort against Russia in Ukraine have been reported missing by their families, and the State Department said Thursday that there were reports of a third American citizen possibly missing while fighting in the country.
Alabama residents Alex Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh have not been heard from since last week, their families said Wednesday, and relatives said they are worried about what may have happened to them.
U.S. officials have been in touch with the Ukrainian government as well as other nongovernmental organizations in the region as they monitor the situation, State Department spokesman Ned Price said. There has been no intelligence that the missing Americans are in Russian custody, Price noted.
A State Department spokesperson later said the agency has "seen the photos and videos of these two U.S. citizens reportedly captured by Russia’s military forces in Ukraine."
An unknown number of Americans, mostly with military backgrounds, have traveled to Ukraine to join the country's foreign legion and fight alongside Ukrainian soldiers there.
