Friday, September 30, 2022

Captured Asian American veteran released by Russia

Former POW Andy Huynh is back home in Alabama with his fiancee Joy Black.


The Asian American soldier captured by the Russians in Ukraine is back home in the United States.

Andy Huynh and Alexander Drueke, two US military veterans who were captured by Russian forces while fighting with Ukrainian forces last June, returned to Alabama last Saturday.

The pair's release was a part of a prisoner-of-war exchange between Russia and Ukraine reportedly negotiated by Saudi Arabia.

As volunteers and fighting in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion made up with foreign fighters, Drueke, 40, and Huynh, 27, had gone missing June 9 in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine near the Russian border. The Alabama residents were released as part of a prisoner exchange. The pair had traveled to Ukraine on their own and bonded as fellow Alabamans. a

“We ended up being captured together and that’s a bond you don’t break,” said Huynh.

“At the moment of capture of capture, I felt fear and I was scared,” Huynh explained.

Although, he won't be returning to Ukraine, Huynh wants to continue to ado something to help Ukrainians keep their independence.

“It’s still surreal to me and I’m slowly but surely readjusting — getting more comfortable and just enjoying life really,” said Huynh.


“Honestly, it’s still surreal. It’s going to take time to adjust,” Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh told CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront” Monday evening.

“But overall, I’m very happy to be with Joy,” he said of his fiancĂ©e, Joy Black. “I missed her every day when I was in captivity. But nonetheless, I’m very happy.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.


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