James Scott Rhys Anderson, who says he is a former British soldier, has been captured in Russia’s Kursk region while fighting for Ukraine, according to Russian state media.
The 22-year-old man’s father, told the Daily Mailhe feared his son would be tortured, while the The UK Foreign Office confirmed it was “supporting the family of a British man following reports of his detention”.
His capture would mark one of the first known cases of a Western national being captured on Russian soil while fighting for Ukraine.
So, who is Mr Anderson, and how did this man come to be captured by Russian forces?
In footage shared online, a man identifying himself as Mr Anderson is seen dressed in combat fatigues while appearing to have his hands tied.
Russian state outlet RIA reported a national security source as saying that he is a British citizen fighting with the Ukrainian army in Russia’s Kursk region.
Ukraine’s forces launched an incursion in the region in August and are now facing an intensified counter-attack from Russian and reportedly North Korean troops.
In the footage, Mr Anderson said he served as a private in the British army from 2019 to 2023, in the 22nd Signal Regiment. “I was a signalman,” he said.
He said that he signed up to fight for Ukraine’s International Legion after losing his job.
“When I left … I applied on the International Legion webpage. I had just lost everything. I just lost my job,” he said. “I [saw] it on the TV …It was a stupid idea.”
Scott Anderson confirmed to the Daily Mail that his son had been operating as a signalman in Ukraine’s International Legion, saying: “I’m hoping he’ll be used as a bargaining chip but my son told me they torture their prisoners and I’m so frightened he’ll be tortured.”
Mr Anderson said his son had been in the British armed forces for four years, having gone to Army Foundation College as a 17-year-old. After leaving the Army last year, he became a civilian custody officer for Thames Valley Police, prior to travelling to Ukraine, the Mail reported.
Speaking to the Mail from his home in Oxfordshire, his 41-year-old father said he had spoken to his son on WhatsApp nearly every day until he was posted on his most recent operation in the past week, and had been in the Ukrainian border region of Sumy – which neighbours Kursk – during their last contact.
He said his son was “alive, healthy” in Sumy, where he had sent a video to his father.
