Russia did not hand over the body of Australian volunteer Oscar Jenkins to Ukraine, and the video with what appeared to be his body was four years old.
This is reported by the "Slidstvo.Info" project.
A video of the bodies in the truck was published, in particular, by journalist Andriy Tsaplienko. In it, off-screen, they say in Russian: "Thatʼs what will happen to you, fucking mercenaries, fucking Australian, suckers, fuck you all. Weʼll kill you all."
The same video was sent to journalists by Oscar Jenkinsʼ brother, who wished to remain anonymous. "Slidstvo.Info" was able to verify his identity and obtain confirmation that the interlocutor indeed serves in the same unit as Jenkins. The man is convinced that the Australian volunteer was killed by the Russians.
However, journalists from “Slidstvo.Info” discovered that this video was published four years ago on one of the Iranian services for free viewing and sharing of videos. Moreover, there is no Russian dubbing on it.
The author of the video captioned it as “The Price of Karabakh” and added the hashtags “Karabakh,” “war,” “soldiers,” “corpses”. The captions to the video are in Farsi. The original video speaks Armenian. The man holding the camera says, “These are all wounded. Wounded by shrapnel”.
As of now, Oscar Jenkins has the status of a prisoner of war. The Land Forces told “Slidstvo.Info” that “there was no fact of the transfer of [Oscar Jenkins’] body”. The Attorney General’s Office noted that they have no confirmation of the death of the Australian volunteer, and the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War says that they are not commenting on this issue at this time.
On the evening of January 16, Russian military police chief Alexander Sladkov, who posted a video of the interrogation of a captured Australian, wrote on his Telegram channel that Jenkins "was saved on the battlefield, and after his actions against Russia are established, he will serve his sentence, if not life, and return to Australia".
What preceded
Oscar Jenkins serves in the 402nd Separate Rifle Battalion, which is part of the 66th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Jenkins signed a contract to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine on April 4, 2024.
While performing a combat mission near Mykolaivka in the Luhansk region on December 16, 2024, he went missing. On the same day, his name was added to the lists of fighters held in Russian captivity.
In December 2024, Russian military propagandists released a video purporting to show Jenkins being interrogated and beaten.
In January, Australiaʼs ABC and CNN affiliate Seven News reported, citing unnamed sources in Ukraine, that an Australian had likely been killed in Russian captivity. Australia summoned the Russian ambassador over the information.
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