US fighters captured in Ukraine branded as ‘mercenaries’ by Kremlin

Russia labelled the two ex-US servicemen captured in Ukraine as "mercenaries" on Monday, as it commented on their detainment for the first time.

The Kremlin said Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, engaged in illegal activities and should take responsibility for their "crimes", Russia’s RIA news agency reported.

Mr Drueke and Mr Huynh were fighting as volunteers with Ukrainian forces when they were captured during fighting near the north-eastern city of Kharkiv on June 9.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, was also quoted as saying that the detained men were not covered by the Geneva convention as they were not regular troops.

They had shot at Russian soldiers and put their lives in danger, according to Mr Peskov.

It comes after the Kremlin accused captured British volunteers Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner of being mercenaries. Mr Aslin and Mr Pinner were sentenced to death by a court in the pro-Russian breakaway state of the Donetsk People's Republic on June 9.

The two ex-US servicemen have said they would "accept" the death penalty in a scripted video posted on a British far-Right video channel.

An hour-long video posted on the UK-based BitChute video-sharing website showed the two men giving separate half-hour interviews to an unidentified interrogator.

The pair said they had been duped by Western "propaganda" into volunteering to fight for Ukraine.

It was not clear how Bitchute - which has been dubbed the "Far Right’s YouTube" for hosting conspiracy theorists and accommodating hate speech - had obtained the video.

Russia has not yet officially confirmed that it has Mr Drueke and Mr Huynh in custody, although images released last Friday on pro-Russian social media channels showed the pair sitting handcuffed in the back of an army truck.

In the video, Mr Drueke, a US army veteran from Alabama, said he and Mr Huynh initially feared that they were going to be executed when they were first caught. To their surprise, he claimed, the treatment from their Russian captors had been quite "kind".

Mr Huynh, an ex-US Marine also from Alabama, added: "The Western media said Russian troops often kill you after capture, but my captors ended up treating me better."

In what may be a sign that the Kremlin is now seeking an end to the conflict, he added: "I hope there will be some diplomatic solution to this. I realise that the Russian and Ukrainian people are fighting for very much the same thing and the answer is diplomacy not war."

At one point his interrogator asked him: "You do know about the death sentence that was ordered on the two British soldiers, and are you aware of the realistic possibility that death may happen to you?"

Mr Huynh replied: "I know that I have committed crimes and I am willing to accept my punishment."

Ray Vahey, Chief Executive of BitChute, said in a statement provided to the Telegraph: "BitChute is a politically neutral platform with a community of tens of millions of people, neither the owners, nor staff are far-right and the platform welcomes everyone no matter their race, religion, gender, identity or opinions so long as they comply with our terms of service.

"The subjective term 'far-right' is used very broadly by some activist groups to incite hatred towards anything they do not like, and some do not like BitChute because it consistently promotes human rights, including freedom of expression."