British Combat Volunteer in Ukraine in Russian Hands

"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."

"He wanted to go out there because he thought he was doing what was right."

"[I] was sent the video by [my] son’s commander and was] in complete shock and tears."

"I could see straight away it was him. He looks frightened, scared and worried."

Scott Anderson, father of British volunteer fighter

James Scott Rhys Anderson   still from video BBC

 

For the first time since the conflict in Ukraine began, with the Ukrainian military responding to the February 24, 2022 invasion of their country by their neighbour Russia, a foreign volunteer fighter with the Ukrainian forces has been captured as a prisoner. The British national was fighting with Ukrainian troops in the occupied part of Russia's Kursk region. 

 

This, at a time when Moscow had initiated daytime drone attacks in Ukraine's civilian areas, with its ground forces accelerating more recent gains along areas of the front line.

Russian State new agency Tass and other media identified the Briton as James Scott Rhys Anderson, with Tass quoting the 20-year-old as having stated he had served as a signalman for four years in the British military before joining the International Legion of Ukraine which had formed in the early stages of the close-to-three-year-old war.

Officials in the U.K. Embassy in Moscow stated they were "supporting the family of a British man following reports of his detention". Britain's Daily Mail newspaper was informed by the soldier's father that his son had been captured. He explained his son had worked for a brief period as a police custody officer before departing to fight in Ukraine. His attempts to convince his son not to travel to Ukraine to join the Ukrainian military was to no avail.

Russian forces have latterly gained  ground at "a significantly quicker rate" than they had in the entirety of 2023, according to the Institute for the Study of War, out of Washington. Ukrainian forces are put to the test to fend off a push by Russia's larger forces in the eastern Donetsk region. According to the Institute for the Study of War, the Russian military authority detected and are exploiting Ukrainian defence weaknesses.

As the war surpassed its thousand-day milestone, a significant escalation in hostilities loomed. Russia fired 145 Shahed drones at Ukraine last week as it launches drones throughout the day as opposed to the past when most such drone attacks took place during the night hours, according to Ukraine's air force.

Head of Ukraine's National Security Council's Couunter-disinformation Center, Andrii Kovalenko, stated that Russia was engaged in conserving its stock of its more destructive, more expensive missiles in favour of using drones for the present time. Claiming that the Ukrainian air force stopped almost all the drones in mid-air. 

Mr. Anderson was unemployed at the time he flew to Krakow, Poland from Luton, England, then took a bus to the Ukrainian border with the intention of joining the International Legion formed by Ukraine to enlist willing international fighting volunteers. Such foreign recruits can opt for three year contracts, paid between £440 ($550 USD) and £3,800 ($4,800 USD) monthly on the basis of the level of combat they engage in.

 

James Scott Rhys Anderson said in a video he served in the Ukraine's International Legion   Facebook