Alan Charlish and Hedy Belucif

WARSAW (Reuters). A U.S. citizen claimed that he was held hostage and beaten by Russian troops in Ukraine. After being rescued, a private volunteer group saved him.

Kirillo Alexandrov (27) crossed the Polish frontier in the wee hours of Wednesday. He had an emotional reunion in Florida with his mother Project Dynamo. They had made contact to save her son.

Alexandrov said that he was awestruck when he first saw his mother crying after crossing the Polish border.

According to Project Dynamo which was founded last year to save Americans from Afghanistan, Alexandrov and his Ukrainian wife, as well her mother, were among more than 600 individuals released in the dozens of missions.

Alexandrov (a Michigan-born man who was moving to Ukraine) was taken into custody along with his mother and wife in early March. They were fleeing the city of Kherson, which had just been under Russian occupation, Project Dynamo stated.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to enter Ukraine as part of a special military operation. This was to “denazify and demilitarize” Ukraine. According to the West, Putin declared an unprovoked war on aggression against Ukraine.

Bryan Stern (project dynamicmo cofounder) said Alexandrov had been charged with 11 counts of spying for the U.S. government. Stern claims that these charges were fabricates. Stern stated that Alexandrov was a husband and father who had traveled to Ukraine with his wife to work in online sales.

Alexandrov claimed that Alexandrov was the first to be detained at his house.

They came in and cuffed me. I was then beat, put me on the ground, taken to a cell where they interrogated me further. I was then subject to a mock execution. They beat me further, put me in a cell, and stole my documents.

Reuters couldn’t independently verify Alexandrov’s accounts.

Later in the interview, he stated that “the things my family underwent were nothing but war crimes.”

Emails to the Russian foreign and defense ministries were not answered. Russia previously denied the targeting of civilians, and rejected war crimes allegations.

Project Dynamo, a U.S. military veteran group, was established in September 2021 to arrange for the chartered evacuation (chartered evacuation) of over 100 Americans flying from Afghanistan to the United States via Dubai.

Stern stated that the group was engaged in negotiations for Alexandrov’s freedom, and also preparing “hard options” to transport him by sea, land or air.

Stern stated in Tuesday’s statement that the ground option was chosen. Due to security reasons, Stern refused to provide details regarding how the rescue occurred.

Project Dynamo states that it works to aid others in difficult situations, such as Alexandrov’s.

He said, “There is a lot of work ahead of us. We’re also tracking other American cases trapped behind enemy lines.”