Ex US Marine, freed from Russia in prisoner swap, hurt while fighting in Ukraine: State Department

Washington DC [US], July 26 (ANI): Former US Marine Trevor Reed, who was wrongfully detained in Russia for nearly three years before being released in a prisoner swap, was injured while fighting in Ukraine, State Department said on Tuesday (local time).

Reed was freed in a prisoner swap in April 2022.
While addressing the press briefing, US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said, “We are aware that Trevor Reed was injured while participating in the fight in Ukraine. Since the beginning of this war we have warned that US citizens who travel to Ukraine, especially with the purpose of participating in fighting there that they faced significant risks including the risks of capture, death or physical harm as well.”

“Reed was not engaged in any activities on behalf of the US government,” he said, adding that the victim has been transported to Germany and is receiving medical care.

Reed was arrested in 2019 when he was visiting his Russian girlfriend, a law graduate, in Moscow. He was wrongfully detained for nearly three years.

Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that US officials don’t believe Reed’s decision to fight in Ukraine should impact efforts to free Americans Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich from Russian detention.

“This case is completely separate,” Jean-Pierre said. “They are not the same and they are treated entirely differently.”

Whelan, a US citizen and former Marine, was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 and arrested on espionage charges, which he has consistently and vehemently denied.

While, Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich was detained on March 29 and accused of espionage during his reporting trip to Yekaterinburg, as per the news report.

Gershkovich is the first American journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the cold war.