US says Russia suggesting 2 Americans captured in Ukraine could be executed 'appalling'

“It’s appalling”, said US on Tuesday after Russia indicated that two Americans captured while fighting for the Ukrainian army, could face execution as the Moscow-Kyiv war continues for day 119. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby condemned Moscow for ‘even suggesting’ the death penalty for the two American citizens -- Alexander John-Robert Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh -- who fought for Ukraine against Russian troops. 

Kirby’s remarks came just a day after Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that both Americans are not protected under the Geneva Conventions on prisoners of war. The spokesperson for foreign policy at the White House, Kirby said that Russia was being at minimum reckless with the comments, regarding US citizens who were captured by Moscow’s forces in Kharkiv. 

"It's appalling that a public official in Russia would even suggest the death penalty for two American citizens that were in Ukraine," Kirby said. 

“Whether they actually mean what they're saying here, and that this could be an outcome, that they could levy a death penalty against two Americans that were fighting in Ukraine, or that they just feel that it's a responsible thing for a major power to do, to talk about doing this..., either one of them is equally alarming," he also said.

Kremlin says captured Americans ‘mercenaries’

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had previously said that Americans captured in Ukraine were “mercenaries” engaged in illegal activities and should take responsibility for their “crimes”. In the first comments by the Kremlin over the detention of two Americans in the pro-Russian region so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Peskov said in an interview with NBC that the men did not come under the Geneva convention as they were not regular Ukrainian troops fighting against Russia. 

Peskov further said that the two Americans captured in Ukraine while fighting with the Ukrainian military were “endangering” the Russian soldiers and should be “held accountable for those crimes".

He said, “They're soldiers of fortune and they were involved in illegal activities on the territory of Ukraine. They were involved in firing and shelling our military personnel. They were endangering their lives”.

“They should be held responsible for those crimes that they have committed…Those crimes have to be investigated,” he also said in the first bits of the interview made public by the network.

Image: AP