Putin’s forces have allegedly taken a British mercenary captive who was fighting for Ukraine inside the Kursk region.
The Brit was paraded in front of cameras today where he gave his name as James Scott Rhys Anderson.
Anderson – or possibly Andersen – claimed he served in the British army from 2019 to 2023.
He says he was fired from the British army and then applied successfully to join Ukraine’s International Brigade as a mercenary.
However the reason for his alleged dismissal has not been said.
The 22-year-old 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.
In front of cameras for Kremlin media, Anderson was recorded in two videos where he was asked about his time in the British army.
He said he was in the ’22 Signal Regiment, just a private. I was a signalman. 1 Signal Brigade, 22 Signal Regiment. 252 Squadron.
The Brit was paraded in front of cameras today where he gave his name as James Scott Rhys Anderson. Anderson – or possibly Andersen – claimed he served in the British army from 2019 to 2023
In front of cameras for Kremlin media, Anderson was recorded in two videos where he was asked about his time in the British army
Ukrainian soliders fighting in the Kursk region. Andersen was captured by Putin’s forces in the Russian region where Ukraine holds several hundred square kilometres
Anderson went on to explain why he joined Ukrainian forces fighting Russia on the frontline.
He said: ‘Okay – so when I left, got fired from my job, I applied on the International Legion [of Ukraine] webpage.
‘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].’
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 that North Korean soldiers are fighting alongside Russians.
Andersen claimed to have travelled to Ukraine from Poland after he successfully applied to join Ukraine’s International Brigade as a mercenary
Russian Lt-Gen Valery Solodchuk (pictured) was reported to have been killed in the UK-supplied Storm Shadow strike by the Ukrainian armed forces on 20 November
The capture comes after a top Russian general, along with 500 North Korean soldiers, were allegedly killed by British Storm Shadow missiles in a devastating attack.
The strike launched by Ukraine on November 20 wiped out Lt-Gen Valery Solodchuk and also resulted with 18 Putin officers reported lost, with a further 18 wounded, it has been claimed.
Earlier reports suggested that a Kim Jong-un general had also been left injured in the attack as he commanded troops backing Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion.
The strike carried out by Ukraine was the first time UK Storm Shadow missiles had been used blast targets deep inside Russia.
It is understood that the pinpoint missiles had hit a Putin command post and military facility with the scale of Russian losses now alleged to be enormous.
Russian authorities have not yet confirmed losses which would be grievous to both Russia and North Korea if confirmed, and the reports are yet to be independently verified.
The Storm Shadows were targeted on November 20 at an underground military facility in Maryino on a Tsarist estate, in Kursk region.
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