Government pledge to aid former soldier captured in Russia

The British government has promised to do all it can to assist a British former soldier fighting for Ukraine who has been taken prisoner by the Russian army.

- Shaun Walker & Ben Quinn

Two videos of a man who identified himself as James Scott Rhys Anderson surfaced on Russian Telegram channels over the weekend. They featured interrogation of a bearded man in military fatigues, who had his hands tied and spoke slowly in English to give details from his biography, including that he served as a signalman in the British army between 2019 and 2023. Anderson is 22, according to the date of birth he gave in the video.

Russian news agencies confirmed a British man had been captured.

The foreign secretary, David Lammy, said: "I have been updated about that development in the last couple of days. Of course, we will do all that we can to offer this UK national all the support we can."