@@ -1,1 +1,1 @@ - +Smoke and dirt rise from the city of Severodonetsk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas on Friday, as the Russian-Ukrainian war enters its 114th day<br> <br>A Russian state TV channel aired videos on social media of two Americans who went missing last week while fighting alongside the Ukrainian army, stating they had been [https://www.blogher.com/?s=captured captured] by [https://www.deviantart.com/search?q=Russian%20forces Russian forces].<br> <br>United States President Joe Biden had said earlier Friday he did not know the [https://www.tumblr.com/search/whereabouts whereabouts] of Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, both US [https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=military%20veterans military veterans] whose relatives lost contact with the pair.<br> <br>The missing Americans -- including a third identified as a former US Marines captain -- are believed to be part of an unknown number of mostly military veterans who have joined other foreigners to volunteer alongside Ukrainian troops.<br> <br>On Friday evening, Russian journalist Roman Kosarev -- who works with state TV [https://www.rtnewstoday.com/ RT News Today] channel -- posted a video on messaging platform Telegram of Drueke speaking facing the camera.<br> <br>"Mom, I just want to let you know that I'm alive and I hope to be back home as soon as I can be," said Drueke, who was seated in what appeared to be an office and dressed in military fatigues.<br> <br>"Love Diesel for me, love you," he said, concluding his brief video with a quick wink.<br><br>[https://www.blogher.com/?s=Reports Reports] in the United States say Diesel was Drueke's dog.<br> <br>RT's official Telegram channel also posted an interview with Huynh, in which he said the duo had been "engaged in combat with Russian troops" near Ukraine's flashpoint Kharkiv area.<br> <br>After the pair retreated and hid for hours, they surrendered themselves to Russian troops, Huynh said.<br> <br>The pair were also filmed in separate RT videos -- directly facing a camera angled from above -- saying "I'm against the war", in poor Russian.<br> <br>The circumstances under which the two men were speaking were not fully clear, nor who specifically was holding them.<br> <br>A US State Department spokesperson on Saturday confirmed American authorities had seen the photos and videos of the two US citizens "reportedly captured by Russia's military forces in Ukraine".<br> <br>"We are closely monitoring the situation and our hearts go out to their families during this difficult time," the spokesperson told AFP.<br> <br>- Worried families -<br> <br>Drueke's mother Lois had told CNN Thursday that her son went to Ukraine after discussing it with her for about a month.<br> <br>"I want everyone to know...<br><br> we don't want one to come home without the other. They were best buddies there and we want everybody to remember it's not just one person there," she said.<br> <br>Huynh's fiance Joy Black said in the same interview that she last heard from him on June 8.<br> <br>"He told me he loved me very much and that he would be unavailable for two, three days... he was trying not to worry me," Black said, in tears.<br> <br>"I just want to see him back safely."<br> <br>During a White House briefing on Friday, Biden urged US citizens not to go to Ukraine.<br> <br>"Americans should not be going to Ukraine now.<br><br> I'll say it again: Americans should not be going to Ukraine," he said.<br> <br>The Russian proxy authorities in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, a Moscow-controlled swath of eastern Ukraine, have sentenced to death two British men and a Moroccan captured earlier in fighting.