The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported that Kyiv is working on the release of captured Americans, 39-year-old Alexander Drake and 27-year-old Andy Hoen, who went to fight in Ukraine.
The way to solve the problem is not easy, but we see the way to solve it. It will be connected to one degree or another with the exchange of prisoners. We have prisoners that Russia needs to return. But this will not happen in a week Or two weeks either. It will take several months.”
Daniil Besarabov, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on State Building and Legislation, has previously stressed that Western mercenaries will not be able to escape punishment for crimes in Donbas hiding behind an American passport, and that all war criminals are awaiting trial.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that the Americans detained in Ukraine are accused of involvement in mercenary activities, so “the Geneva Convention does not and cannot apply to them.”
Peskov stressed that the actions of the Americans “must be investigated and they must be brought to justice,” and did not rule out that they would be sentenced to death.
Source: TASS