A Minnesota man residing in Ukraine vanished after Russian forces appeared to have detained him whereas he was attempting to flee the southern port metropolis of Kherson, his mom mentioned Thursday.
In an interview with MSNBC, Tina Hauser mentioned her son, Tyler Jacob, 28, was eliminated Saturday from a bus that had been headed for Turkey, based on a passenger who was touring with him.
The passenger, a Turkish citizen, advised Jacob’s spouse that he was taken from the bus at a checkpoint in Russian-controlled Crimea, Hauser mentioned.
“We haven’t heard from him since,” Hauser mentioned, including that she believes he was detained as a result of he’s a U.S. citizen.
“He wasn’t doing anything bad,” she mentioned. “He was trying to live a life over there with his wife and daughter. He just was a U.S. citizen, and it was a target on him.”
She added: “This was and has been the beginning of my worst nightmare. I was afraid he was going to get captured. And I don’t want to even think about the next two fears of never seeing him or having him killed by them guys.”
Jacob moved to Ukraine final 12 months together with his then-girlfriend to show English, Hauser mentioned. The couple had been married in January.
Hauser mentioned she and her son talked often for the reason that transfer. The final time she heard from him was Saturday morning.
Kherson, a big, strategically necessary metropolis two hours north of Crimea, fell to Russian forces earlier this month. Defiant Ukrainians have taken to the streets in the times since — at the same time as Russian forces detained activists and seized the town’s TV towers, and as meals and medical provides dwindled.
Hauser mentioned she’s been in contact with the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and her U.S. senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith.
A State Department spokeswoman mentioned officers had been conscious of studies of Jacob’s disappearance, however she declined additional remark, citing privateness concerns.
In a press release, Smith referred to as the story of Jacob’s disappearance “horrible” and mentioned she is working carefully with Klobuchar and the State Department “to do everything we can to figure out where he is and to bring him home safely.”
