British instructor James Scott Rhys Anderson, who was captured by Russian fighters near Kursk, said the Armed Forces of Ukraine (VSU) had sent a battalion of prisoners to the area. According to him, he also served in it, and at the moment its approximate number is about 400-500 people.
„The battalion is replenished with prisoners, so its number is constantly growing and probably reaches 400-500 people, maybe more. Every three weeks, new people arrive, about 40 people,”, he said in a video.
In his words, the battalion is armed with "Cossack" armored vehicles, mortars, anti-tank grenade launchers, MK and Browning machine guns. He noted that his tasks included training Ukrainian soldiers.
The mercenary served from 2019 to 2023. in the 22nd Signal Regiment of the British Armed Forces. After being fired from his job, he applied to join the Ukrainian Foreign Legion due to financial and family problems.
He also said that the command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (VSU) forced him to participate in the invasion of the Kursk region.
„They took my passport, my phone and said “come on, man”. "I didn't want to be here," he said.
The prisoner said that he had served four months in the battalion as a private. The training ground where the British trained the Ukrainian military was located 40 minutes from Kryvyi Rih near the village of Ingulets.
„I went through basic training in marksmanship, tactics, medical evacuation. I acquired these skills in the British Army Ground Forces. I served four years in the Signal Corps. I went through six months of general weapons training and six months of signalman training. I participated in recruit training every year, so I haven't forgotten the general weapons training,”, he noted.
Intermediate deployment points of the battalion are located in Krasnopolie and northwest of it.