Freed US citizen detained in Ukraine by Russian forces says he feels “relieved”

Erin Burnett spoke with Kirillo Alexandrov, a 27-year-old American citizen who was held captive by Russians for alleged espionage. 

Bryan Stern, co-founder of Project Dynamo, told CNN that Alexandrov and his Ukrainian wife and mother-in-law were taken by Russian forces more than a month ago in Kherson Oblast. They had been held in a building occupied by the Russians and the Russian security services would not allow them to leave until today, Stern said.

Sitting next to Stern, Alexandrov told Erin, “I feel relieved, nothing more, nothing less, just relieved.”

When asked how he was treated by Russian soldiers while in captivity he said he is a victim of war crimes.

Alexandrov did not know negotiations for his release were happening.

“I was ignorant to basically everything. I was just held in a room for however many days. It just felt like one long day or a lifetime,” he said.

His wife was assaulted during their time in captivity but she is a strong person and doing much better, he said.

“She’s great. She’s held me up … she’s got a strong grip, she’s a strong person and she’s doing a lot better,” he said of his wife.

The US government was aware and helped when they could, Stern told CNN.

“We were close to getting them out pretty much every day for the last two and a half weeks,” he said. “A lot of people told us this was a losing case, this is not gonna work, this is too hard, he’s an alleged spy in captivity there’s just no way … A lot of people told us it was impossible but we get told that a lot in Dynamo and it always seems to work out.”

Alexandrov says he’s indebted to Stern for his teams work securing his released.

“Incredibly brave, honorable, he’s a very good man and I’m not gonna forget any of this ever, I don’t know how I can ever repay him and his team because I would be dead if it wasn’t for him,” Alexandrov said of Stern and his team.