A former British army soldier who was believed to have been killed fighting for Ukraine is alive after he appeared in a Russian propaganda video.
Hayden William Davies, 30, from Southampton had been based in North Yorkshire and was in the Royal Regiment of Scotland, but was kicked out of the British army in 2023 for ‘smoking marijuana’, which is when he decided to fight for Ukraine.
According to a Russian channel that monitors foreign fighters, Davies had died, but it turns out he had been captured by Russia in the Donetsk region as a prisoner of war.
Now, in a newly surfaced clip, Davies appeared in front of the cameras speaking of his ordeal in Ukraine.
In a video made by his Russian army captors, Davies said: ‘You fly to Poland and then get a coach from like Krakow over to wherever the signing centre is….mine was in a city called Ternopil.
‘Obviously with the International Legion, you sign a contract and you’re brainwashed into thinking that you’re in the right….’
He complained that he had received no proper training because there were no heavy guns to use for drills.
‘The money is **** and your chain of command don’t care about you. They do not care,’ he said.
A former British army soldier who was believed to have been killed fighting for Ukraine is alive after he appeared in a Russian propaganda video

Hayden William Davies, 30, from Southampton said he was based in North Yorkshire and was in the Royal Regiment of Scotland, but was kicked out of the British army in 2023 for ‘smoking marijuana’, which is when he decided to fight for Ukraine
‘They will use you as meat.
‘They’ll say you’ll be on a listening post for three to five days.
‘They’ll keep you there for ten days and then send you to a different position.
‘I point blank refused to go to a different position…..’
He also gave an account of how he was taken prisoner, saying before this he had been hiding in a basement on the frontline.
‘I heard a drone, so I got straight in a building and I saw another guy,’ he said.
‘He was out of breath….
‘[He said]: ‘In here, in here’.

Davies is now likely to face a trial in Russia and a potential long jail sentence unless he is included in a prisoner swap
‘I knew he was Russian, like [from his] uniform.
‘And when he realised I wasn’t a threat, his weapon was down.
‘He gave me a cigarette. Literally carried me into safety.
‘Out of the way of all the drones and artillery that was coming in.
He also added: ‘If you come to Ukraine and you’re a foreigner, with me being an exception…you will get killed like everyone will die.
‘And it’s not pretty, it’s not nice, and Ukraine won’t care about it either.’
Davies is now likely to face a trial in Russia and a potential long jail sentence unless he is included in a prisoner swap.