The government is investigating reports an Australian man who was fighting alongside Ukrainian soldiers in the Donbas has been captured by Russian forces.
Footage posted on social media shows a man, who identifies himself as 32-year-old Oscar Jenkins, standing in army fatigues and being interrogated and beaten by someone speaking Russian.
“Live in Australia and Ukraine. I’m a teacher,” he says during the video, mixing broken Russian and English.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was working to ascertain the facts, telling reporters: “We know that the Russians often put out information that isn’t right, so our embassy in Moscow is working.”
Albanese said the government would make “appropriate representations” on behalf of Jenkins.
“We always look after Australians,” he said. “That’s the job of an Australian government — to make representations for Australian citizens.”
According to a LinkedIn profile matching Jenkins’ details, he attended Melbourne Grammar School before working for seven years as a university lecturer in Tianjin, China.
If the details are confirmed, Jenkins would be the first Australian combatant captured by Russian forces in Ukraine.
Glenn Kolomeitz, a former Australian Army officer and lawyer, estimated upwards of 30 Australians were in the combat zone fighting with the Ukrainian foreign legion.
“I now suspect that this guy will be exploited for propaganda purposes, to apply some sort of leverage to the Australian government,” he told ABC Radio.
Russia has said foreign citizens fighting for Ukraine will be prosecuted as mercenaries and face up to 15 years in jail, which would contravene international law.