British mercenary fighting for Ukraine after leaving the Army is ‘captured by Putin’s forces in Kursk and paraded on camera’
A British mercenary is allegedly being held by Putin’s forces after being captured while he 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
Anderson said says he was fired from the British army and then applied successfully to join Ukraine’s International Brigade as a mercenary
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].’
Russia later revealed a second video of the British serviceman.
He appeared at one point in another sickening propaganda interrogation video seemingly with tape over his eyes.
Later he was not taped over the eyes but his hands were taped and claimed he was from Oxford.
Russian President Vladimir Putin records a televised address in Moscow
This may imply he had been at Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) in Dartmouth and Oxford University – but this was not clarified.
Anderson’s words in the the Russian propaganda video made 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.’
He said he had been with Ukrainian forces for four months.
Anderson 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.’
The 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.’
Ukrainian soldiers in the Donetsk region of Ukraine
The burnt wreckage of a car in Kursk. Inside the region, it has been claimed that North Korean soldiers are fighting alongside Russians
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.
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 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
This is the moment missiles believed to be British Storm Shadow missiles struck inside Russia
The strike carried out by Ukraine was the first time UK Storm Shadow missiles had been used blast targets deep inside Russia. One image following the attack showed a written indentation on a chunk of metal reading: ‘Storm Shadow’
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.
New footage shows a Storm Shadow missile involved in the attack as it flew towards its target, it is claimed.
If true, the losses may explain Putin’s furious reaction – firing a new Oreshnik hypersonic missile at Dnipro, and his public boasts he had a new super weapon which was unstoppable by the West.
Moscow also threatened that the use by Ukraine of NATO-supplied missiles meant Putin could legitimately hit back with nuclear missiles.
The Russian officers reportedly killed are from Putin’s Southern and Eastern Military Districts.
The strike carried out by Ukraine was the first time UK Storm Shadow missiles had been used blast targets deep inside Russia.
US-based Global Defense Corp reported that 500 North Korean soldiers were killed alongside Russian officers, however, there was no independent confirmation.
Some 10,000-plus North Koreans are believed to have been moved across Siberia to the war zone after being ordered to serve Putin by their leader Kim Jong Un.
They are either currently fighting for Putin or about to be deployed.
Kim’s decision to inject North Korean soldiers into Russia to help in Putin’s bloody war has raised concerns among Kyiv’s allies who worry that the move may exacerbate what is already Europe’s largest conflict since WWII.
Images shared on social media showed what appeared to be fragments of a British Storm Shadow missile in Marino, Kursk, on November 20
US-based Global Defense Corp reported that 500 North Korean soldiers were killed alongside Russian officers, however, there was no independent confirmation (file photo)
South Koreans watch Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin during a recent meeting
The Storm Shadow missile attack last week hit the sanatorium of the Russian Presidential Affairs Directorate in Maryino, a former Tsarist estate, say reports.
Britain’s Storm Shadow missiles are capable of dodging air defences – making them a nightmare attack weapon for their enemy.
The £800,000 rockets use GPS technology to precisely blast targets, and can travel through the air at 600mph.
Storm Shadow missiles have already been used by Ukraine inside its own territory for some time, but Kyiv now appears to have been granted permission to use the weapons to strike within Russia.
Storm Shadow – called Scalp by the French – is a weapon equipped with a navigation system that once launched, descends to a low altitude to avoid detection before locking onto its target using an infra-red seeker.
On the final approach, the missile climbs to a higher altitude to maximise the chances of hitting the target.
On impact, it penetrates the target before a delayed fuse detonates the main warhead.
The strike comes after Russia issued a warning that British support for Ukraine could ‘lead to a collision between nuclear powers’ in a grave threat as President Vladimir Putin vowed to launch more hypersonic missiles at targets in Ukraine.
Putin has said he will fire more of Russia ‘s new hypersonic missiles at targets in Ukraine
A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile being launched as part of nuclear deterrence forces drills in Russia on October 29, 2024
Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launchers roll on Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9
Andrey Kelin, Russia’s ambassador to the UK, cited American support for Ukraine to use Western missiles against targets in Russia, backed by Britain and France, in his warning that ‘this seriously escalates the situation’ and ‘can lead to a collision between the nuclear powers’.
The Kremlin suggested this week it was ‘entitled’ to fire upon ‘the military targets of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities’ in a thinly-veiled threat to the West, after the US gave its support for Kyiv using ATACMS missiles against Russian and North Korean forces in Russia.
After striking the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with an experimental hypersonic missile early on Thursday, Putin ordered the mass production of the ‘unstoppable’ Oreshnik, believed to be able to reach Britain in under 20 minutes.
‘There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasise once again that we will continue testing this newest system. It is necessary to establish serial production,’ Putin said.
