Russia Sentences UK 'Mercenary' To 13 Years In Prison Camp After Capture In Ukraine
Foreign fighters continue to play a role on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war. In the latest example, on Thursday Russian prosecutors announced that a British national who fought alongside Ukrainian forces has been sentenced to 13 years in a high-security penal colony after being captured on the battlefield.
The Prosecutor General’s Office identified the man as 30-year-old Hayden Davies, and described he had been fighting on behalf of Ukrainian forces. He was tried in a court in Russian-controlled Donetsk.
He reportedly confessed to traveling to Ukraine to join the International Legion, which is made up of foreign volunteers fighting for Ukraine's military against Russia, and received monthly payments of between $400 and $500.
Russian court authorities released footage of him being questioned while behind bars, wherein he's seen with his head having been freshly shaven as is common with prisoners.
Some speculate his answers may have been given under coercion, but he's seen on camera nodding in the affirmative when asked if he's guilty of the charges.
The UK government has been formally petitioning Moscow that he should be considered a prisoner of war and not a mercenary.
But instead he's being treated as a mercenary, which means he does not receive the customary protections under the Geneva Conventions
Davies is originally from Southampton, previously served in the British military, and has a family back home. According to Sky News:
Russian prosecutors said on Thursday that Mr Davies had arrived in western Ukraine in August 2024, signed a contract to fight for the International Legion, undergone military training, before fighting against the Russian army in Donetsk.
The whole ordeal is similar to a parallel recent case which saw a Russian court sentence another British citizen, James Scott Rhys Anderson, to 19 years in prison.
Anderson had reportedly been actually caught fighting on Russian soil, in the Kursk region, as part of the short-lived Ukrainian breach of the Russian southwest oblast which happened last year.
BREAKING:🇷🇺🇬🇧 Russia has sentenced Ex-British soldier Hayden Davies to 13 years in a maximum security prison camp
— Mega Geopolitics (@MegaGeopolitics) December 18, 2025
He was paid mercenary who fought for Ukraine against Russian forces in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine pic.twitter.com/WL5joBWBn3
Early in the early four year long conflict, UK authorities - including Liz Truss at the time - positively encouraged citizens to go and fight on behalf of Ukraine. Since then an estimated 20,000 foreigners from over 50 countries are believed to have traveled to Ukraine to assist. But these official calls from Western officials have grown silent as Ukraine's battlefield chances have dimmed, and the front lines have seen continued Russian advances.