military veterans captured by Russian forces while serving as war volunteers in Ukraine.

“If (the Russians') goal is to discourage people from doing this, if their goal is to punish people who do this, they are not looking to release these people anytime soon,” said William Pomeranz, acting director of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute, which focuses on Russian and Ukraine research. .

Army veterans Alexander John-Robert Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, who were captured by Russian forces after coming under fire in the northeastern Kharkiv region on June 9.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said last week that officials had been in touch with authorities in Ukraine and Russia, but were not provided details about the men's whereabouts.

The Russian military has said it considers foreigners fighting with Ukraine to be mercenaries not protected as combatants under the Geneva Conventions. .

While two Britons and a Moroccan were recently sentenced to death by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, several experts told USA TODAY that Russia may be reluctant to further inflame tensions by allowing executions.

In an interview with USA TODAY last week in Kyiv, Major-General Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, confirmed Russian media reports claiming U.S.

State Department and its embassies in Kyiv and Moscow are likely working to win their release, those efforts are hamstrung by the poor state of U.S.- Russia diplomatic relations, said William Tayor, a former U.S.

ambassador to Ukraine and vice president of Russia and Europe at the U.S.

has supplied billions in weapons to Ukraine and led an effort to enact financial sanctions on Russia following its invasion.

And Levitsky said the war volunteers’ presence on a battlefield means a much more complicated set of negotiations in contrast to efforts to return figures detained on the basis of the Russian legal system, such as Reed or WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was detained at a Russian airport on Feb.

Drueke and Huynh are believed to be the first Americans captured by Russian forces since the war began on Feb.

The Russian media report, citing Drueke, said the Americans became separated and surrendered to a Russian patrol. .

“Here in Britain, the Foreign Secretary called on the Russian government not to execute two British foreign volunteers who were captured in Ukraine,” he said

But he said some were warned before they left that rescues were unlikely if they were captured

And while such volunteers could be serving as medics or trainers, as opposed to infantry soldiers, opposing forces aren't likely to recognize that distinction without hard evidence, Fritz said