Briton allegedly captured by Russian forces while fighting for Ukraine | Ukraine

A British national has reportedly been captured by Russia’s forces in the Kursk region while fighting for Ukraine.

In a video posted on pro-war Russian Telegram channels on Sunday, a man wearing combat fatigues identifies himself as 22-year-old James Scott Rhys Anderson from Britain.

The man, who speaks with an English accent, says he served as a signalman in the British Army until 2023 before joining the International Legion in Ukraine to fight against Russia.

In the footage, which has not been verified, the captured man appears with his hands tied. It is unclear when the clip was recorded.

Since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a call for foreigners to join the fight in February 2022, thousands of people from all over the world have traveled to Ukraine. Many have joined units such as the International Legion, known as the most selective of the foreign groups and operating as part of a military unit within the Ukrainian Ground Forces.

Yuri Podolyaka, a popular pro-Kremlin military blogger, wrote on Telegram that Anderson was captured near the village of Plekhovo in Russia’s Kursk region.

Russia usually argues that the foreign fighters it has captured are mercenaries and are not entitled to protection as prisoners of war under international law.

The UK Foreign Office said it was “supporting the family of a British man following reports of his detention”.

The Ministry of Defense has declined to comment at this time.

Russian forces have been battling Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region since August 6, when Kiev surprised Moscow with the biggest foreign attack on Russian soil since World War II, subsequently seizing 100 villages across an area of ​​more than 1,300 square kilometers.

On Sunday, Reuters reported that Ukraine had lost more than 40% of the territory it initially captured in the Kursk region after Russian forces, reinforced by 11,000 North Korean troops, launched a wave of counteroffensives.

In the summer of 2022, two Britons were captured while fighting in Mariupol as members of Ukraine’s marines were sentenced to death following a show trial in a court in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.

The men were later released as part of a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine brokered by Saudi Arabia.