Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong pays her respects at the Memory Wall of the Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, Kyiv, 18 December 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKO
The Australian Foreign Ministry has summoned Russia’s ambassador to Canberra amid reports that an Australian mercenary fighting for Ukraine had died at the hands of the Russian military in eastern Ukraine, Foreign Minister Penny Wong told Australian public broadcaster ABC on Wednesday.
Though the Australian authorities have so far been unable to verify the reported death of the mercenary, who has been named as Oscar Jenkins, Wong expressed “grave concerns for his welfare”.
The ministry said that it had held a “number of discussions” with Russian ambassador Alexey Pavlovsky in an attempt to obtain information on Jenkins’s whereabouts. The ministry had also been in contact with the Ukrainian authorities over the matter, Wong said.
When asked whether Australia would consider expelling Pavlovsky if Jenkins’s death was confirmed, Wong said that all options were on the table.
Russian pro-war blogger Alexander Sladkov shared a video of the 32-year-old Jenkins following his capture by Russian forces near the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine in December.
In the footage, Jenkins, whose hands are tied together, is seen being interrogated and beaten by a Russian serviceman. Jenkins’s body was subsequently found close to where the video was filmed, ABC reported citing anonymous sources.
At least seven Australians are believed to have died fighting in the war in Ukraine, though Jenkins is believed to be the first to have been captured and held as a prisoner of war, ABC said.
