Trevor Reed.Photo: ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images
U.S. MarineTrevor Reedhas reportedly been injured while fighting in Ukraine, one year after being freed from imprisonment in Russia.
The Messengerreports that Reed suffered shrapnel wounds after stepping on a landmine in Ukraine two weeks ago and has since reached out to U.S. officials asking to be transferred to an American military facility in either Germany or Poland to be treated for his injuries.
Sources told the outlet that Reed is currently in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, adding that the situation is frustrating to U.S. officials, both because of warnings against traveling to Ukraine to fight and because of the years of negotiations that went into securing Reed’s freedom from Russia one year ago.
Reed had been held in Russia for nearly three years when he wasfreed in a prisoner swap in April 2022. The American had been detained in Russia in August 2019 and in 2020 wassentenced to nine yearsin prison forendangering the “life and health"of Russian police officers after a night of drinking — charges Reed has denied and which U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan called “preposterous.”
Reed was freed in exchange for Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot who Reutersreports thatwas serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of drug smuggling in 2011. He has denied the allegations against him.
But after being freed, Reed decided to head to Ukraine and join thosefighting against Russian invaders— a move State Department officials have repeatedly warned against since the war began in February 2022.
U.S. officials have alsowarnedthat although it is “not a crime under U.S. law for an individual to go abroad for the purpose of enlisting in a foreign army,” it could be a violation if that person was recruited or hired in America.
Last June, two American veterans who volunteered to help defend Ukraine against Russia’s invasionwent missing and were feared captured. They were freed one month later, tellingABC Newsthey were held in a “black site” and tortured.
source: people.com
