Brit ex-soldier ‘captured by Russian troops while fighting in Kursk’ after leaving UK to fight on Ukraine frontline

Russian forces defending Ukraine have detained an ex-British soldier.

His captors paraded the PoW in two different propaganda videos that were made public online today.

According to reports, he was captured after intense combat in the Kursk region of Russia.

Following a surprise attack over the border in August, Ukrainian troops are fighting to protect the area.

He identified himself as James Scott Rhys Anderson and provided his birthdate.

Anderson, dressed in green military garb, stated that prior to his trip to Ukraine, he was a member of the British Army from 2019 to 2023.

He continues by telling interrogators that he served in 22 Signal Regiment as a private.

According to the inmate, he applied online to join Ukraine’s International Legion after leaving the Army.

“I had just lost everything,” he continues. I had recently lost my job.

“I watch it on television. It was a dumb notion.

His hands are bound in red tape in a second video, which is thought to have been recorded soon after he was apprehended.

His interrogator asks him how long he was in the British Army.

He responds, “I learn for one year and I stay for four years.”

Then, “Why you come in Russia?” the interrogator asks.

Anderson responds: “Commander take my s*** and tell me to come…I don’t want to be here.”

Shaun Pinner, a former British PoW who was taken prisoner at the beginning of the conflict, stated last night that he faces a “very dangerous” 10-day period.

Before receiving a death sentence, the Russians also paraded 51-year-old Shaun, a former member of the Royal Anglian Regiment, on television.

Roman Abramovich, the former owner of Chelsea, mediated a prisoner swap arrangement that ultimately resulted in his release.

“Anything he says is under duress—we must remember that,” Shaun told The Sun.

“The more people that see the video, the more people will be aware that he is still alive, which will increase his chances.

“His safety is now the responsibility of someone.

However, it’s crucial that as little information as possible about his past be disclosed.

“Russia is hoping that the video would spark a wave of information that they can use to question people.

“Getting on TV was my job when I was captured. You want to be able to communicate to the world your health, appearance, and the person who has you.

“There’s no telling what has happened since then but this is a positive.”

The family is reportedly in contact with the Foreign Office.

Following allegations of a British man’s incarceration, we are providing help to his family, an FCDO spokesperson stated.

Two British-born POWs who joined Ukrainian forces were given death sentences by Russia in a kangaroo court in 2022.

In what was widely believed to be a coerced confession, heroes Shaun Pinner, 48, and Aiden Aslin, 28, entered guilty pleas to receiving instruction with the intention of carrying out terrorist acts.

After being taken prisoner during the Russian siege of Mariupoland, Shaun was cruelly sentenced in Donetsk.

As part of a prisoner swap, the former British Army man was released in September 2022.

As part of the same prisoner release agreement in September 2022, Aiden was also freed after being apprehended by Putin’s soldiers in Mariupol.

Both guys claimed to be Ukrainian citizens serving lawfully in the country’s army when they called The Sun’s news desk weeks prior to their conviction.

They believed they were legitimate combatants with the right to be handled as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention, according to recordings made when they called The Sun.

However, Aiden told the BBC about the circumstances of his detention: “It’s like some old Soviet sort of police thing.”

“They give you a two-liter bottle to distribute among everyone, so you’d be lucky if you got maybe a quarter of a cup of water along with a tiny piece of bread every day—there are no mattresses, just a concrete floor, and no bathroom.

“So it’s just the bare minimum to just keep you alive, and then on top of this, you have people that will get taken out – they’ll find out something about them, and you just hear them being beaten.”