Suedi Murekezi, a U.S. Flying corps veteran, was liberated from A Russian-controlled area in a detainee trade between Ukraine and Russia, Public safety Chamber representative John Kirby said Wednesday.
Why it is important: Murekezi’s family members told the Washington Post he was captured in June by favorable to Russian experts in the previously involved city of Kherson in the wake of being wrongly blamed for partaking in supportive of Ukrainian fights.
- Kirby, on a phone call with columnists Wednesday, affirmed Murekezi’s delivery and said: “We invite the news.”
Details: Murekezi is from Minnesota but has lived in Ukraine beginning around 2018.
- He was liberated alongside 64 fighters of the Ukrainian Military who battled in Donetsk and Luhansk, as per Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s head of staff.
- Ukraine additionally got four groups of fighters killed in real life, Yermak said.
What they’re saying: In a meeting with ABC News distributed Wednesday, Murekezi said he went through weeks in a cellar after he was first captured, where he said he was beaten and tormented with electric shocks.
- Murekezi said he was then moved to a jail in Donetsk city, where he was burned through 90 days prior to being delivered, however, he was without his U.S. identification and successfully caught.
The big picture: Murekezi’s delivery comes under seven days after WNBA star Brittney Griner has liberated in a detainee trade between the U.S. also, Russia for indicting Russian arms seller Viktor Session.
- Murekezi had been one of no less than three U.S. veterans captured or caught by Russia or Russian-supported specialists during Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.
- Alexander John-Robert Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, two other previous help individuals, were caught while battling close Ukrainians in Kharkiv Oblast in June however were liberated through a detainee trade in September.
- Somewhere around two Americans have been killed while battling in Ukraine, however, the specific number is presently obscure.