Kremlin says death penalty possible for US fighters said held by pro-Russia separatists

DNIPRO, Ukraine — Fears mounted Tuesday over the fate of two Americans reportedly taken captive while fighting for Ukraine, as Russia declared that international protections for prisoners of war did not apply to foreign “mercenaries” and that capital punishment could not be ruled out if they were put on trial in separatist territory.

Those comments out of Moscow came as U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland visited Ukraine to meet with the country’s top prosecutor and offer U.S. assistance in investigating and prosecuting alleged war crimes committed by Russian troops during the nearly 4-month-old war.

The trip came against a backdrop of intense fighting for a pair of strategically important cities in eastern Ukraine, a bloody war of attrition in which Russian forces are trying to wear down outgunned Ukrainian troops with unrelenting artillery barrages.

Western countries including the United States are sending