Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, had been serving as volunteers with a regular Ukrainian army unit. They are believed to be the first US servicemen to end up as Russian prisoners of war.
They will join a growing number of Western military volunteers captured by Russian forces, including three Britons – Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Andrew Hill.
„Shaun should be accorded all the rights of a prisoner of war according to the Geneva Convention and including full independent legal representation. We sincerely hope that all parties will co-operate urgently to ensure the safe release or exchange of Shaun.“
Britain has called the court‘s decision a „sham judgment“ and condemned Russian proxy authorities in Donbas for what it called an „egregious breach“ of the Geneva convention.
Mr Aslin, 28, is known by multiple names. When he fought alongside Syria’s Kurdish militia the People’s Protection Units (YPG) against Isis he was known as Rojhat, he then adopted the name Cossack Gundi when he joined as a volunteer fighter in the ranks of the Ukrainian Army. To some, he is known simply as Johnny.
Mr Aslin, a care worker at his hometown of Newark, Nottinghamshire, had no military experience when he left the UK for Syria in 2015. Before he boarded a plane to Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq, he reportedly told border authorities he was going on a backpacking trip.
UK citizens Shaun Pinner, Aiden Aslin and Moroccan Saadun Brahim were charged with being mercenaries and participating in operations aimed at seizure of power and overthrow of the so-called constitutional order of the so-called „Donetsk People‘s Republic“, which is not recognized by anyone but Russia.