What's being done to bring a Tuscaloosa man home after being reported missing in Ukraine battle

A Tuscaloosa man is among two U.S. citizens from Alabama missing in Ukraine amid the Russian conflict, members of the state’s congressional delegation said Wednesday.

Alexander John-Robert Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa was fighting alongside Ukrainian military forces when he and Hartselle resident Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, went missing during a June 9 battle north of Kharkiv near the town of Izbytske, which is in a region of northeastern Ukraine near the Russian border.

According to a report from CNN, a man who is acting as the team's sergeant said that searches for Drueke and Huynh following the battle have been unsuccessful.

A post on a Russian propaganda channel Telegram on June 10 claimed that two Americans had been captured near Kharkiv, according to the CNN report.

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, said she's been in contact with Drueke's family and is urging national authorities to locate and bring him home.

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“My office has been in contact with the State Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other members of the Alabama congressional delegation regarding this urgent matter. We will continue to do everything in our power to assist in locating him and finding answers for his family," Sewell said in a news release. “As we work to determine his whereabouts, please join me in praying for Alexander and his family during this incredibly difficult time.”

U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, said Huynh had volunteered to go fight with the Ukrainian army against Russia and that Huynh and Drueke were together, an aide to Aderholt said.

“As you can imagine, his loved ones are very concerned about him,” Aderholt said in a statement. “My office has placed inquires with both the United States Department of State and the Federal Bureau of Investigation trying to get any information possible.”

Tuscaloosa resident Bunny Drueke, Alexander Drueke's mother, told CNN that her son and Huynh are presumed to be prisoners of war, though this has yet to be confirmed because the U.S. Embassy to Ukraine has not been able to adequately confirm whether her son had been captured.

"They have not been able to verify that he's with the Russians,” Bunny Drueke told CNN. “All that they can verify is that he is missing at this point.

"They stay in close touch with me, and I have every confidence that they are working on the situation."

According to The Washington Post, families for both men said that Drueke and Huynh had contacted them respectively on June 8 to say they would be unreachable during a multiday mission.

Neither has been heard from since the newspaper's report said.

Alexander Drueke had told family that he was teaching Ukrainian troops how to use American-made weapons, his mother said.

“Alex felt very strongly that he had been trained in ways that he could help the Ukrainians be strong and push (Russian President Vladamir) Putin back,” Bunny Drueke said, according to The Washington Post report. “He went over there not to fight, but to train.”

The U.S. State Department told The Associated Press that it was looking into reports that Russian or Russian-backed separatist forces in Ukraine had captured at least two American citizens. If confirmed, they would be the first Americans fighting for Ukraine known to have been captured since the war began Feb. 24.

CNN said that a U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday that they "are aware of unconfirmed reports of two U.S. citizens captured in Ukraine."

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"We are closely monitoring the situation and are in contact with Ukrainian authorities," the spokesperson said, according to CNN. "Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment."

The White House also said Wednesday that they can't confirm the reports. But CNN said that National Security Council coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said that "if it's true, we'll do everything we can to get them safely home."

“We’ll do the best we can to monitor this and see what we can learn about it,” Kirby said, according to The Associated Press.

However, he reiterated his warnings against Americans going to Ukraine.

“Ukraine is not the place for Americans to be traveling,” he said. “If you feel passionate about supporting Ukraine, there’s any number of ways to do that that that are safer and just as effective.”

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tuscaloosa man reported missing in Ukraine battle