The wife of Derek Huffman, who earlier this year relocated his family from Texas to Russia to escape “LGBT indoctrination”—and was sent last month into active duty fighting in Ukraine—has released an update on her husband’s combat experience.
In the comment section of a July 15 YouTube video updating viewers about her family’s life in Russia, DeAnna Huffman said that her husband is alive and healthy.
“He’s not missing. Or ever was,” DeAnna wrote, responding to rumors that he was missing in action. She said that she spoke to him on the phone the night before the video was posted.
“All I can say is he’s alive and doing well. Thank you for your support.”
While she maintained that she couldn’t share any specific information about Derek’s whereabouts, she did claim that he is located “not [at] the absolute front, but close to it.”
DeAnna, 42, is a former teacher and floral designer while Derek, 46, formerly worked in welding and construction. The couple share three daughters. DeAnna has fastidiously documented the family’s move from the US to Moscow online, frequently posting videos of their new life based in “traditional values.” Their YouTube account, Huffman Time, has 11,000 followers.
Derek enlisted in the Russian military in May, hoping to expedite his path to citizenship, but was surprised to find in June that he was being moved into a combat role. The former handyman has no military experience and had expected to serve as a war correspondent or welder.
In a YouTube video from May, Derek addressed people who “might think [he’s] crazy.”
“A big part of it for me is respect and earning our place in Russia. If you think about America, people just come on in and are given everything, and they don’t assimilate,” he said. “They’re just there for the free handouts.”
His wife described the move to the frontlines as challenging in a since-deleted video, saying that the family is “believing in God that everything will work out how it’s supposed to.”
In a June interview with Russia Today, DeAnna framed his choice to fight as a way to “stand up for what he believes in and fight for a cause he supports.”
It’s unknown exactly how many American citizens have joined Russia’s brutal war efforts against Ukraine, but in February 2024 the Washington Post estimated that at least 50 Americans had died fighting in the war on behalf of Ukraine.
In April that year, a Texas native who had previously fought for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine was killed during fighting in the Russia-occupied territory of Donetsk. His wife claimed that he had been abducted by Russian soldiers, while authorities claimed he had gone missing.
An American think-tank estimated in June that 250,000 Russian troops have been killed during the war, alongside about 100,000 Ukrainian troops.
Putin’s army has been accused of war crimes in Ukraine by the International Criminal Court, including the mass abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia and the intentional bombing of hospitals and schools.
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