WASHINGTON – Russian authorities have released a 2012 Winona High School grad who disappeared into Russian custody in Ukraine 10 days ago, Senator Amy Klobuchar announced. Klobuchar said Tyler Jacob, 28, was safe and had been reunited with his Ukraine wife and daughter. The senator, who had been working for Jacob’s release, offered no further detail. Her statement:
“I am relieved that Tyler is safely reunited with his wife and daughter. Over the last two weeks, my team and I have been in close contact with his family, the State Department, and the U.S. embassy in Moscow working towards this outcome, and I am grateful that we were able to help bring him to safety.”
Jacob had been teaching in the ship-building Ukraine city of Kherson when the Russian army moved in from Crimea in February. The Jacobs fled to the countryside. Within a few days, Jacob and other foreigners were bused into Crimea. His wife and daughter, who had had Ukraine citizenship papers. were left behind. At the Crimean border town of Armiansk, which Russia has occupied since 2014, Jacob’s texting with his mother, in the Winona County town of Stockton, broke off. There was no further communication. Later his mother saw Jacob on Russian television being deboarded from the bus in Armiansk.
Jacob. Diplomatic intervention has facilitated his release from Russian custody. He had been teaching English to children in what has become war-ravaged southern Ukraine.