US Department of State building in Washington DC. File photoWASHINGTON, Jun 17 The State Department is verifying the authenticity of a photograph that may be of two Americans believed to have been taken prisoner in the fighting in Ukraine, the mother of one of them, Bunny Dryuke, told CNN.Earlier The British Telegraph reported that the Russian military allegedly captured two American mercenaries who fought on the side of Kyiv in the suburbs of Kharkov. According to the newspaper, 39-year-old Alexander Dryuke and 27-year-old Andy Huyn are considered the first Americans captured by the Russian military. The State Department has previously informed that it has unconfirmed information about the capture of compatriots and finds out their fate in contact with their families, the Ukrainian authorities and the Red Cross. «They are working hard on verification (photos). We very much hope,» Dryuke said. She added that she had seen a picture in which two Americans were being transported in the back of a truck with their hands tied behind their backs. Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that the United States could «send a signal» to the Russian Federation through the embassy about allegedly captured mercenaries. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin does not know about the American military, who were allegedly taken prisoner by the Russian military in Ukraine. The State Department also previously stated that it was checking information about another American who could have gone missing during the fighting in Ukraine.
Lavrov commented on the verdict on British mercenaries in the DPR
