A Minnesota teacher who was detained by Russian forces earlier this month has been released and will be safely making his way home, the state’s senior senator, Amy Klobuchar, announced Friday.
Tina Hauser had contacted officials working for Klobuchar to tell them her son, Tyler Jacob, was detained March 13 as he was trying to leave Ukraine on a bus heading to the Turkish border. The senator said she reached out to the State Department and connected with John Sullivan, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, who discussed the situation with the Russian government, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
“Tyler Jacob of Winona, MN is safe. A teacher in Ukraine, he was detained at a Russian checkpoint while trying to leave the country,” Klobuchar wrote on Twitter. “Thanks to his parents Tina & John for never giving up & our State Dept & U.S. Ambassador in Moscow Sullivan who spoke with me & directly helped.”
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Tyler Jacob of Winona, MN is safe. A teacher in Ukraine, he was detained at a Russian checkpoint while trying to leave the country.
Thanks to his parents Tina & John for never giving up & our State Dept & U.S. Ambassador in Moscow Sullivan who spoke with me & directly helped.
— Senator Amy Klobuchar (@SenAmyKlobuchar) March 25, 2022
Klobuchar described Jacob’s parents calling attention to their son’s situation as “just an example of parents loving their son and not giving up.”
Jacob went to Ukraine in November 2021 to take a job teaching English and to be with his longtime Ukrainian girlfriend, whom he married in January. He initially planned to stay in the country after Russia invaded but eventually decided he should try to leave.
Jacob is with his wife and daughter and is planning to travel with them to Minnesota, according to his mother. John Quinn, Jacob’s father, said there were “literally thousands of people praying for Tyler to get home safely” and that he is “very happy it happened this week.”
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Klobuchar has not yet responded to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
