Updated July 25, 2023 at 3:40 PM ET
Trevor Reed, a U.S. Marine veteran who was freed from Russian prison in a prisoner swap last year, has sustained an injury while fighting in Ukraine, the State Department said.
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters Tuesday that Reed is being treated for an injury in Germany.
"Mr. Reed was not engaged in any activities on behalf of the U.S. government and, as I indicated, we have been incredibly clear, warning American citizens, American nationals not to travel to Ukraine," Patel said.
Journalist James LaPorta of the news site The Messenger was the first to report the story, citing U.S. military officials as saying Reed had suffered shrapnel wounds from stepping on a land mine two weeks ago. The story added that Reed had joined a group of freelancers fighting on the side of Ukraine against Russia at some point last year.
The State Department spokesperson did not provide details about Reed fighting in Ukraine or his injury, but said a nongovernmental organization evacuated him for medical care.
Russia had detained Reed on charges of attacking a Moscow police officer in 2019, sentencing him the following year to nine years in prison.
But in April 2022, Russia released Reed in a prisoner exchange for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot who had been serving a 20-year prison sentence in U.S. prison for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
