Two U.S. citizens captured in Ukraine held in Donetsk - source

DONETSK. June 21 (Interfax) - Two United States citizens captured in Ukraine are currently being held at a detention facility in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), a source with DPR security agencies told Interfax.

"The two American mercenaries, Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, captured in Ukraine, are in Donetsk now," the source said.

DPR head Denis Pushilin had said on June 16 that he had no information on the reported captivity of two former U.S. military service members fighting along with the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Kharkiv.

Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) head Leonid Pasechnik also told Interfax that he had no information on the captured Americans.

The Telegraph had reported earlier that two former U.S. Army members helping the Ukrainian Armed Forces were captured while fighting near Kharkiv.

The Telegraph said Drueke, 39, who had previously served in Iraq, and Huynh, 27, had joined a regular Ukrainian army unit as volunteers. They were captured in early June and are considered the first American soldiers known to have been captured in the conflict zone in Ukraine.