TRANSCRIPT
It's a video that has prompted the federal government to make urgent inquiries.
The footage, which has been posted on Russian social media accounts, shows a man who identifies himself as 32-year-old Oscar Jenkins from Australia who appears to have been captured by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described the video as concerning and says investigations are underway.
"This is concerning news and we're working through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to provide support including for this gentleman, trying to ascertain the details and facts which are there. We know that the Russians often put out information that isn't right. So, our embassy in Moscow is working, but in addition, Foreign Affairs and Trade is working here as well."
Speaking on Sky News, the Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite says Australians who have elected to fight in the war have been killed which is why the government urges people not to travel there.
"This highlights why the government has advice to Australians not to travel to Ukraine to seek to become involved in this conflict or otherwise. It is an active war zone and there's extreme danger there and there's been unfortunately Australians who have been killed in the conflict. It highlights why there is a severe travel warning against travelling to the Ukraine. It's a war zone. It's very, very dangerous and Australians should not seek to become involved in his conflict."
In Melbourne, a cricket team has confirmed that Oscar Jenkins is a former member.
The President of the Toorak Prahran Cricket Club, Neil Gumley, provided this statement about Jenkins to SBS News.
"A wonderful clubman, great teammate. Our thoughts at this stage are very much with his family and friends."
Gus McLachlan spent 37 years in the army, retiring as a Major General in 2018.
He has told the ABC the man featured in the video appears to have been captured in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
"Conditions there are akin to something like the conditions in World War One. Masses of artillery landing, drones overhead forcing soldiers to rapidly take cover and to be in that area even alongside your friends and colleagues in your own trenches would be terrifying enough but to be captured by Russian forces under those conditions would be extremely terrifying situation to find yourself in."
He says both Ukrainian and Russian forces are stepping up their operations in the lead up to Donald Trump's inauguration because the President-elect has promised to end the war in Ukraine through some kind of negotiated settlement.
"We saw the Ukrainians attacking Russian buildings deep inside Russia, 1000 kilometres in using drones and now the Russians are exploiting the capture of a Western soldier for their own information purposes. This is really information warfare, as it's become known, where we had this battle for narratives, battle for the story of the war. It's then picked up through social media and out into the broader media."
The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations [[AFUO]] says it's devastated to learn about the capture of Oscar Jenkins, describing the video as a stab in the heart for any Australian-Ukrainian.
It says his capture is also of extreme concern because of the well documented widespread and systemic use of torture on Ukrainian prisoners-of-war by Russian forces.
The organisation says it's horrific that a young man who has chosen to help Ukraine resist an illegal and lawless invasion is now in the hands of Russian occupying troops.
It says it will support the Australian government to assist Jenkins as a matter of urgency.
In other developments, Russian President Vladimir Putin has held talks with Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico in Moscow.
Visits and calls from European leaders to President Putin have been rare since the conflict began in 2022.
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited Russia in July.
