Would Russia really execute two American POW's captured while fighting with Ukraine; and if they did, would that draw the U.S. into war with Russia?

As Russia's war grinds on in Eastern Ukraine, we're learning a bit more about the fates of two Americans who were volunteers fighting for the Ukrainian army when they were captured by Russians.

A Kremlin spokeperson has acknowledged that the two Americans ... both military vets ... were in Russian custody. He called them "soldiers of fortune" and said the Geneva conventions and the wartime protections they provide fighters do not apply in their case, since Russia considers them mercenaries.

The two Americans were fighting with a small group of foreign soldiers and went missing in action when their platoon came under heavy fire in a village near Kharkiv, which is about 25 miles from the Russian border.

On Russian state television there have already been suggestions that the two men should be tried and executed for war crimes.

Can and would the U-S try to help free them?

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