Two former British soldiers have been captured by Russia (Picture: East2West)
Two British mercenaries fighting for Ukraine inside Russia have reportedly been captured by Putin’s forces.
Video footage shows British soldier James Scott Rhys Anderson tied to a chair after being taken prisoner and interrogated by Russian soldiers.
A second soldier, known as Jimmy Wray, was also later revealed to have been captured by Russians, and was shown to be interrogated by his captors with tape over his eyes.
Both men are believed to have been captured during fierce fighting in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops staged a surprise cross-border incursion over the summer.
The captured soldier identifies himself as James Scott Rhys Anderson (Picture: E2W)
In a series of propaganda videos filmed by the Russians, both men revealed their military histories and how they had found themselves captured.
Anderson claimed to have served in the British army from 2019 to 2023, and joined Ukraine’s International Brigade as a mercenary after being fired from the armed forces.
The 22-year-old mercenary claims to have served in the 22nd Signal Regiment, a unit of the Royal Corps of Signals in the British Army, which provides cutting-edge communication and information systems support to the fighting force.
Wray also claims to have served as a signalman for four years.
Anderson said he was in the ’22 Signal Regiment, just a private. I was a signalman. 1 Signal Brigade, 22 Signal Regiment. 252 Squadron.
He then went on to explain why he joined Ukrainian forces fighting Russia on the frontline.
Anderson added: ‘Okay – so when I left, got fired from my job, I applied on the International Legion [of Ukraine] webpage.
Another soldier named Jimmy Wray was filmed with tape over his eyes (Picture: E2W)
‘I had just lost everything. I just lost my job.
‘My dad was away in prison. I saw it on the TV. It’s a stupid idea. I flew to Krakow, Poland, from London Luton.
‘Bus from there to Medyka in Poland, on the Ukraine border [and then to Ukraine].’
Wray meanwhile, introduced himself as being ‘Jimmy Wray, Britannia, Oxford.’
Unlike Anderson though, his words on camera appeared to make little sense.
‘I learned for one year. And I stay for four years,’ he said.
‘Commander, take my **** and tell me to come… take my passport, everything, my telephone……. I don’t want to be here.’
Anderson says he joined the Ukrainian International Brigade after being fired from the British Army (Picture: E2W)
He said he had been with Ukrainian forces for four months, and implied his role was to teach Ukrainians ‘how to shoot, how to…patrol, maybe evacuation.’
A Russian military source told the state-controlled TASS news agency: ‘A mercenary from Britain has been taken prisoner in the Kursk region.’
A Russian report said: ‘Overall, the footage will be useful and will be able to tell a lot of interesting things about communications and its structure in the British army.’
Ukraine holds several hundred square kilometres of the Kursk region, which borders the northeast of Ukraine, but Putin’s forces are gradually pushing them back.
Inside Kursk, it has been claimed …read more
Source:: Metro