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A British man has been jailed for 13 years Russian Maximum Security Prison camp after being convicted for fighting with ukrainian armyRussian prosecutors said.
Hayden Davis, 30, was charged moscow Of being a “paid mercenary” who fought in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where fierce fighting continues.
Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office said he was tried by a court in a part of Russian-controlled Donetsk, one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally claimed as its own in 2022. It was not stated how Davis made the plea.
The statement claims Davis arrived in western Ukraine in August 2024, signed a contract to fight for the International Force to Defense Ukraine, underwent military training and then fought against Russian forces in Donetsk.
It said Russia captured him in the winter of 2024 along with a US-made assault rifle and ammunition.
State prosecutors released a video of Davis’s interrogation, showing him standing behind bars wearing a black coat and a shaved head. In the video he says he traveled to Ukraine to join the International Legion, where he was paid $400-500 per month.
Davis said he fought in the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine, a unit of the Ukrainian military composed of foreign volunteers.
Asked if he pleaded guilty to the charges, Davis says “yes” and shakes his head.
It was not clear whether Davis was speaking under duress and there was no immediate comment from the British Foreign Office.
London said in February that Davis was not a mercenary but a prisoner of war entitled to protection under the Geneva Conventions. It also condemned Moscow’s exploitation of prisoners of war “for political and propaganda purposes.”
Mr Davis first went missing in January, and was feared dead until Russia released a propaganda video of him speaking after his capture.
In the video, he says he is from Southampton, was fired from the British Army in 2023 for smoking marijuana, and has since struggled to find work.
He said he decided to fight in Ukraine after being expelled from the British Army. He is critical of Ukrainian commanders, and said that the chain of command “doesn’t care about you” and will “use you as meat”.
Davis said in the video that “every country you find in NATO, there are international military people in there”.
He says the majority of these are Colombians, whom he says number “hundreds.”
He said they did not receive proper training and had “no heavy guns” to use for practice.
Davis said he hid alone in a bunker on the battlefield for two months, and claimed he was rescued by a Russian who offered him a cigarette.
Independent The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has been contacted for comment.