This masthead has independently confirmed Jenkins’ identity. He is a former student at Melbourne Grammar, one of Victoria’s most prestigious schools. He graduated in 2010, studied biomedical sciences at Monash University and moved to China in 2015. Since 2017, he has been working as a lecturer at Tianjin college.

It is unclear when he left China and how long he has been fighting with Ukrainian forces on the frontline.

A school friend, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Jenkins was a good person – an intelligent, well-liked classmate who was a “great sportsman” who represented the first XI cricket and first XVIII football teams.

Jenkins’ LinkedIn profile lists him as a former member of Toorak-Prahran Cricket Club.

The interrogation footage was first shared by Alexander Sladkov, a Russian propagandist and military correspondent for Russia 1 and Russia 24 TV channels.

He said the Australian would now face trial and prison, while adding Russians were actively hunting for foreign fighters, potentially to secure prisoner swaps. He said Ukrainian units were listed as targets if a foreign language was heard in the radio interception.

Under Russia’s criminal code “mercenarism” can attract up to 15 years in prison. The Kremlin is reportedly handling almost 600 criminal cases against foreign fighters – mostly citizens of the United States, Georgia, Britain, Canada, Lithuania and Latvia.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was seeking more information about Jenkins through Australia’s embassy in Moscow, cautioning that videos released by Russia were often laced with misinformation.

“We know that the Russians often put out information that isn’t right,” Albanese said at a doorstop in Sydney. “So our embassy in Moscow is working [to find out what has happened]. But in addition to that, Foreign Affairs and Trade are working here as well”.

Assistant Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite issued a warning on Sky to all Australians not to go to Ukraine.

Dozens of Australians are believed to be fighting on the front lines in Ukraine’s war against Russia, but the federal government has not been able to provide figures.

When asked by his interrogator how he was being paid, Jenkins said he was paid Ukrainian hryvnia into a PrivatBank account, the nation’s largest bank. According to the International Legion recruitment website, monthly pay matches enlisted soldier pay in regular Ukrainian units, ranging from approximately US$600 a month for rear-line troops to $3300 a month while on a combat deployment.

At the start of the war, the federal government cited the Foreign Incursions and Recruitment Act to warn that Australians could break the law if they went to fight in a foreign conflict, leaving them exposed to sanctions if they ever came home. However, no one has been charged to date.

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At least eight Australians have been killed since Vladimir Putin’s troops launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, including Victorian man Joel Benjamin Stremski, and Queenslanders Brock Greenwood and Matthew Jepson, who died while holding off Russian troops in the country’s east in October.

However, Jenkins is the first Australian known to have been captured by Russian or Russian-aligned forces.

Jenkins’ school friend said he had become “sort of withdrawn” since moving to China and had recently deleted much of his social media.

A passionate vegan, he uploaded a single video to his YouTube channel last year titled: “I will force Chinese people to be vegan.”

“The only people who are friends with me anyway are vegans,” Jenkins says in the video. “If you’re not vegan, and you’re my friend then you’re going to be vegan soon, or we’re gonna fight ... and my mum, I’m still talking to my mum. Otherwise, it’s quite limited. There’s some help from the outside from family wanting to do stuff.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Home Affairs have been contacted for comment.

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