WASHINGTON — A former U.S. Marine who was launched from Russia in a prisoner swap final 12 months has been injured whereas combating in Ukraine, the State Division mentioned Tuesday.
Trevor Reed was injured a number of weeks in the past, in keeping with an individual conversant in the scenario who was not approved to debate the matter by identify and spoke to The Related Press on situation of anonymity. He has been taken to Germany for medical care, mentioned State Division spokesman Vedant Patel.
Patel mentioned little about Reed’s damage or presence in Ukraine past noting that he was not “engaged in any actions on behalf of the U.S. authorities.” However Reed’s choice to take up arms throughout Russia’s battle with Ukraine probably complicates U.S. efforts to win the discharge of two different Individuals nonetheless detained by Moscow, Wall Road Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and company safety government Paul Whelan.
His combating additionally risked a probably dire situation if he’d been captured and returned to Russian custody after the U.S. had labored to get him house.
“As I indicated, we now have been extremely clear warning Americans, American nationals, to not journey to Ukraine, not to mention take part in combating,” Patel mentioned. “As you realize, we’re not in a spot to supply help to evacuate personal U.S. residents from Ukraine, together with these Individuals who might determine to journey to Ukraine to take part in combating.”
The character of Reed’s damage was not instantly clear, however Patel mentioned he was transported out of Ukraine by a non-governmental group.
Reed was launched from Russian custody in an April 2022 prisoner swap in alternate for a Russian pilot, Konstantin Yaroshenko, who’d been serving a 20-year federal sentence for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.
Reed was arrested in the summertime of 2019 after Russian authorities mentioned he assaulted an officer whereas being pushed by police to a police station following an evening of heavy consuming. He was later sentenced to 9 years in jail.
The U.S. authorities described him as unjustly detained and pressed for his launch whereas his household has asserted his innocence. Relations additionally had been involved about his deteriorating well being. At one level he mentioned he was coughing up blood whereas in custody. He additionally staged a starvation strike to protest the circumstances beneath which he was held.
The Messenger was first to report Reed’s damage.
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Related Press author Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.
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