An Alabama man captured by Russians while fighting in Ukraine last year is back in the war-torn country. But unlike his previous time there, Alex Drueke said this mission is about assisting with humanitarian efforts.

Speaking to ABC News, Drueke said he is now working at a community center in Ukraine that’s not too close to the Russian lines.

“I’m a marked man and I think I got my one second chance at life,” he said. “So, yeah, if I get captured again. I’ll disappear.”

Drueke and fellow Alabama native Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh were captured in Ukraine during a fight in the Khariv area in June 2022. They were freed some four months later as part of a 10-person prisoner exchange brokered by the Saudi Arabian government.

READ MORE: Watch emotional homecoming as two Alabama men captured in Ukraine return to Birmingham

Drueke told ABC News he feels like he still has something to contribute to the Ukrainian people, including “how they can stay alive if they happen to get captured.”

“It has deeply affected me,” he said. “It seems funny to say it, but in a lot of ways, I was lucky that I already had PTSD from Iraq. I came into this situation with some tools in my toolbox and some knowledge of what trauma can be like and how you can deal with it.

”I came into the situation a little bit more prepared, but being in solitary confinement for a month and being on death row in a Russian prison for two, two and a half months gives you a lot of time to think. A lot of time to be introspective. I learned a lot about myself. And I realized that I legitimately have a second chance on life. There were countless times that I was less than a second away from death. And so I’m trying to do positive things which is one of the reasons I’m back here in Ukraine. I want to do good things with my life,” he added.

You can see the complete interview here.