The Russian Ministry of Defense released a ton of information today that proves they have been keeping tabs on the foreign mercenaries who went to Ukraine in February to fight the Russians. According to the Russian information one of the Americans, a former Marine, Grady Kurpasi is dead. The other two, Alex Drueke and Tai Ngoc Huyn aka Andy Win, are prisoners. Andy has been imprisoned since March.
Here is how we know that Grady Kurpasi is dead:
Kurpasi joined the US Marines after the September 11 terrorist attacks and had four deployments during his service, including three to Iraq. He was a decorated service member who won the Good Conduct Medal three times, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal three times, the Purple Heart medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, among other awards, according to his military service record. . . . A more interesting detail we’ve managed to track down is that he was a part of the same group as the British citizen Andrew Hill who was captured in the same area and at the same date. He later confirmed there was a guy ”Grady” from the US in his group. This is most likely Grady Kurpasi who should be assumed to be dead. https://t.me/azmilitary11/7163
The following notebook apparently was Andrew Hill’s and he kept a log of the foreigners in his Ukrainian unit that died. You can see that Grady’s name is marked through.
There is solid video evidence that two other Americans, Alex and “Andy” are alive. There video comments must be taken with a grain of salt. They are captive and may not be expressing their true thoughts. However, what they say bolsters the Russian view that the west is being misled about the true situation on the ground in Ukraine. First up, Alex Drueke. He warns other former US soldiers thinking of going to Ukraine to stay away:
Tai Ngoc Huynh aka Andy Win was captured in either late February or March. How do we know? He describes freezing temperatures and that a Russian soldier covered him with a blanket to keep him warm. I do not think he is making this up. He paints a picture of chaos in Ukrainian forces that jives with the earlier videos I posted showing Ukrainian soldiers from 12 different units rebelling because of incompetent commanders and lack of support. Here is Andy:
Russia’s Ministry of Defense published the list of known foreign mercenaries who are in Ukraine fighting against the Russians. Here are the numbers for the Europeans and those from the Americas (this is as of today, 17 June 2022). The Europeans sent 4,866 mercenaries to Ukraine. One thousand two hundred fifty of those are dead and 1101 bailed out of the war and returned home. They were the smart ones. Of the 2,515 remaining, several of those were captured by the Russians. [NOTE–I am making the assumption that the term “eliminate” means “dead”. If the Russians are including captives and dead in the same figure, then the “TOTAL” number means those still in the field.]
The numbers for the Americas (i.e., from Canada all the way to South America) is smaller–1267. Five hundred thirty Americans, some former military, joined the battle. Two hundred and fourteen are dead and 227 came to their senses and retreated to the good old USA. According to the Russian tally, 89 Americans are either captive or still in the fight.
The captured foreigners are not entitled to being treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention. The Russians see them as mercenaries. Two Brits already have been tried and sentenced to death. Russia may treat all those foreigners the same way. From their perspective, they are acting like the United States did when it captured plain clothed Germans who infiltrated Florida in World War II. Those Nazis were executed.
Foreign minister Lavrov is adamant regarding Russia’s legal position in this matter:
There is another video that shows how the Russians are treating a uniformed Ukrainian intelligence officer. The man is wounded and has received first rate field medical care. Pay close attention to the dressing, the sling and the shot of pain medication.
I want to reiterate that these are videos taken by the Russians. I will leave it to you to decide if it is propaganda or the truth. What I find most interesting is that Russia did not disclose that it had captured American fighters and is holding them. I suspect we will be seeing more information like this in the coming days.
One final point–the numbers provided by the Russian Ministry of Defense reflect very professional intelligence collection. It appears the Russians obtained Ukrainian documents listing names and country of origin of the foreigners who joined the fight.