‘Serious concerns’ as new video emerges of Australian captured by Russia

After new footage emerged showing him looking afflicted and complaining of a broken arm, the Australian government expressed “serious concerns” about an Australian national who was kidnapped by Russian forces while fighting for Ukraine.

Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, confirmed to ABC on Tuesday that he had seen the Oscar Jenkins YouTube video.

Albanese said that while the footage “appears to confirm” Jenkins is alive, the government holds “serious concerns for Mr Jenkins’s welfare”.

We’ve made it clear to Russia that Mr. Jenkins is a prisoner of war and that obligations that must be fulfilled in accordance with international humanitarian law.

“We have called for Russia to release Mr Jenkins, so that he can come home to his family”, Albanese added.

Jenkins, a 32-year-old schoolteacher from Melbourne, was captured by Russian forces when fighting with the Ukrainian military. When did he depart for Ukraine, it is not known.

Jenkins is seen wearing a green wool hat and camouflage clothing in the video, which was uploaded on February 8. He looks uncomfortable, as a man behind the camera, speaking in English, says the date is January 17, 2025.

Before Jenkins tells the camera that he “would like more freedom” and that he feels “a little weak,” the unidentified man explains that earlier reports about Jenkins’s death were “not right.”

“I have lost a lot of weight. I have a broken arm still, I think, and my hand is not good”, he said.

It was impossible to independently verify the footage’s date or authenticity.

A Russian-speaking man allegedly confronted and slapped in the face Jenkins on pro-Kremlin social media accounts in December. The man, claiming to be Jenkins, responded in both English and Ukrainian, saying he was a biology teacher who lived in Australia and Ukraine.

Australian media, citing unnamed sources, then reported in January that Russian forces had killed Jenkins.

In response to those reports, Albanese said it would be “absolutely repulsive” if it was determined that Russian forces had engaged in that activity last month and that action would be “strongest possible.”

In late January, Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, announced that Moscow had confirmed that Jenkins was still alive and being held as a prisoner of war. No information about Jenkins’ whereabouts or conditions of his imprisonment have been provided by the Russian government.

Since a Russian missile downed Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing 298 people on board, including 38 Australians, relations between Canberra and Moscow have been tense.

Australia has also condemned Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine as “illegal and immoral”.