Russian forces have captured a former British army soldier who was fighting with Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region, according to reports on Monday.
In the video, the prisoner was seen sitting on a bench with his hands bound and identified himself as 22-year-old James Scott Rhys Anderson.
Russia's TASS news agency reported on Monday that Russian security services confirmed the capture of a British mercenary in the Kursk region.
“I previously served in the British Army's 22nd Signals Regiment from 2019 to 2023,” Anderson told Russian authorities during the recording. “Just a private. I was a communications officer. 252nd Squadron, 22nd Signal Regiment, one communications brigade.”
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Former British Army soldier James Scott Rhys Anderson was reportedly captured by Russian forces in the Kursk region while fighting for Ukraine. (Credit: East2West)
He expressed regret for taking part in Ukraine's fight against Russia, explaining that he had lost almost everything.
After leaving the military, he was fired from his job and applied on the International Forces (Ukraine) website.
“I just lost everything. I just lost my job. My dad went to prison. I saw it on TV,” Anderson said, shaking her head. “That was a stupid idea.”
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Former British Army soldier James Scott Rhys Anderson was reportedly captured by Russian forces in the Kursk region while fighting for Ukraine. (Credit: East2West)
The International Command for the Defense of Ukraine was created at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Associated Press reported that the corps is a unit of the Ukrainian ground forces made up primarily of foreign volunteers.
Anderson was an instructor in the Ukrainian army when he was reportedly sent to the Kursk region against his will.
In the video, he said that the commander took away his belongings (passport, phone and other items) and ordered him to go to the Kursk region.
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File photo: Ukrainian soldiers hide from artillery fire during Russia's attack on Ukraine, Aug. 13, 2024, near the Russian border in Sumy region, Ukraine. (Reuters/Viacheslav Ratynskyi/File photo)
“I don't want to be here,” Anderson said.
The Associated Press has not been able to independently verify this report, but if confirmed, this would mean a publicly known number of Western nationals captured on Russian territory while fighting for Ukraine. He said it could be one of the first cases to occur.
The British embassy in Moscow told news agencies it was “supporting the family of a British man following reports that he has been detained”, but gave no other details.
Anderson's father, Scott Anderson, told Britain's Daily Mail that he was informed by his son's Ukrainian military commander that the young man had been captured.
During the Russian attack on Ukraine, soldiers of the 24th Mechanized Brigade, named after the Ukrainian army's King Danilo, drive a 2S5 “Hyacinth-S” towards front-line Russian troops near the town of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region. Fire a howitzer. , Ukraine November 18, 2024. (Oleg Petrasiuk/24th King of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Danilo Separate Mechanized Brigade Press Office/Data via Reuters)
Senior Anderson also said his son served in the British Army for four years, serving as a police detention officer and then went to fight in Ukraine. He told the newspaper that he had tried to persuade his son not to join the Ukrainian army, but now he feared for his son's safety.
“I'm hoping he'll be used as a bargaining chip, but my son told me they're torturing prisoners and I'm afraid he'll be tortured. It’s very scary,” he told Britain’s Daily Mail.
While being interrogated, the younger Anderson told how he came to Ukraine from England, stating that he flew from Luton, London to Krakow, Poland. From there, we took a bus to Medica, Poland, on the border with Ukraine.
Anderson's arrest comes as the Financial Times reported that Russia is working with the Houthi terrorist network to lure hundreds of Yemenis to Russia under false pretenses and recruit them to take part in the war in Ukraine. It took place inside.
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A senior Ukrainian defense official told Fox News that the Russian government is trying to involve as many foreign mercenaries as possible in the war against Ukraine, including allies and proxies from poorer countries.
Ukraine's Ministry of Defense also confirmed the report to Fox News, saying, “The Russian president…[a] Recently, this war has escalated twice. The first is when they brought in North Korean fighter jets, and the second is when they used them. [a] Ballistic missiles in Ukraine. ”
Fox News Digital's Caitlin McFall and Nana Sajaia and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
