London
CNN
—
A British man has been taken prisoner while fighting for Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region, Russian state media has reported.
Russian state media outlet TASS said the man was 22-year-old James Scott Rhys Andersen, a former British soldier, citing a military source.
The British Foreign Office confirmed it was “supporting the family of a British man following reports of his detention.”
In a video circulating on Russian media, a man identifies himself as James Scott Rhys Anderson and said had previously fought in the British Army before flying to Poland and taking a bus to the Ukrainian border. It is not clear whether he was speaking under duress.
The man says he was born in May 2002. He sits in front of a dark background and appears to respond to questions about his background and why he chose to fight for Ukraine. The video is heavily edited, with sharp cuts in various places.
People of various nationalities, often former soldiers, have fought against Russian forces in Ukraine’s International Legion, bolstering Kyiv’s armed forces in the conflict.
Kyiv launched an incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August, taking Moscow and even its own allies by surprise. It said at the time that the operation was necessary because Russia had been planning to launch a new attack on Ukraine from the region. It said it was aiming to create a “buffer zone” to prevent future cross-border attacks.
The Kursk offensive was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia has deployed nearly 50,000 troops to Kursk in response. A US official told CNN that Russia has amassed a large force of tens of thousands in the region, including recently arrived North Korean troops.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
CNN’s Ivana Kottasová and Svitlana Vlasova contributed reporting