Oscar Jenkins’ body could take months to identify as Aussie soldiers warned they will be killed if they fight with Ukraine

Gruesome new details have emerged about Melbourne foreign fighter Oscar Jenkins’ final moments, who is believed to have been killed at the hands of Russian troops. WARNING: GRAPHIC

EXCLUSIVE

The body of Melbourne foreign fighter Oscar Jenkins could take months to recover, as gruesome new details emerge of the torture he is believed to have endured at the hands of Russia.

It comes as Australians have been warned in a chilling online video they too will be killed if they join Ukraine in the ongoing conflict.

“Here is what is going to happen to you f***ing Australian recruits – we’ll kill all you, f*** it, you are all lying here, some f***ing legion,” the narrator of the video, shared on social media platform Telegram, says in Russian, as images of dead bodies piled up in the back of a truck are shown.

“You will die all of you here.”

Mr Jenkins, who was serving with Ukraine’s 66th Mechanised Unit in Kramatorsk, Donetsk, was taken hostage by Russia last year and appeared in a separate Telegram clip in December being interrogated by soldiers.

If confirmed dead, the 32-year-old would be the first Australian prisoner of war to be killed by a foreign force since World War II.

The body of Melbourne foreign fighter Oscar Jenkins could take months to recover. Picture: Telegram

A Ukraine soldiers’ support group told this masthead “there is no possibility” the 32-year-old teacher with limited military experience was still alive, while those who fought alongside him said they had seen his distinctive hand tattoo, with the word ‘vegan’, in online imagery of war corpses from the war-torn country.

Humanitarian group Romulus T. Weatherman Foundation said the process of identifying the bodies of foreign volunteer soldiers killed in Ukraine could take weeks, if not months.

“We know from our experience that the process takes a long time, if he (Mr Jenkins) is still in a contested area that is a completely different process,” the foundation’s president Meaghan Mobbs said.

“First it depends on which unit has the remains, on how long the body’s been laying in the open – the military often put the bodies together, they decompose which makes it less visibly recognisable.”

Australian man Oscar Jenkins was captured by Russian forces in Ukraine. Picture: Screengrab

The Australian Ambassador for the Memorial International Volunteers for Ukraine Mick Roberts said he had heard Mr Jenkins’s body had been “discovered along with four or five more defenders from the unit”.

“I wish it wasn’t true, but it is,” Mr Roberts, who lives in Perth, said.

“But (they) can’t reach them yet due to artillery drone strikes.”

High-profile Russian journalist Alexander Nevzorov called out his own country’s brutal forces on Telegram, suggesting Mr Jenkins had been “tortured and stabbed to death”.

“Australia has decided to show an example to everybody else of how people should be talking with Russia, which has been too relaxed in its impunity, unpunished for all its military crimes,” he said online.

“Europe, when they hear about one more Russian bloody deed, just gets helplessly grumpy, without taking any actions.

“While Australia, as soon as they learned about the volunteer-soldier Oscar Jenkins’ tragedy, made plans to throw the Russian ambassador out and break all the diplomatic relations.

“As it turned out, Oscar Jenkins was captured, tortured and stabbed to death.”

Oscar Jenkins in a Toorak Prahran cricket club team shot. Picture: Instagram

Mr Jenkins was reportedly serving in the Donetsk region on Ukraine near the city of Lyman where battles are raging around at least six villages in the area.

Temperatures in the Donetsk region have been unseasonably warm at around -1 degrees, which has meant there has been very little snow.

This impacts the condition of the bodies once they are put through the detailed identification process.

Mr Roberts said his support group was working around the clock to ensure the fallen volunteers’ tragic stories were revealed and they are honoured appropriately.

He said his contacts described Mr Jenkins as “very well-liked by the Ukrainian armed forces”.

“He was willing to leave his country of Australia to help Ukraine — and that’s a brave man,” he said.

“He had no military experience.

“There are talks of him being tortured before his death.

“It’s very sad. From what I’ve heard, he was a fun-loving guy.

“Everyone in the unit liked him, and he was ready to go straight to the front line at any time”.

Oscar Jenkins completing a cross country race in China in 2017. Picture: Instagram

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was working closely with the Ukrainian Government but had not yet verified Mr Jenkins’ circumstances.

Earlier in the week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned that if Mr Jenkins had been killed by Russian forces, swift action would be taken.

“We’ve called in the Russian ambassador already,” he said.

“We’re seeking clarification as to whether … any harm has occurred to Mr Jenkins, and we’ll take the strongest possible action if it is the case that any harm has been caused to him,”

The Coalition has also called for Russia’s ambassador to Australia, Alexey Pavlovsky, to be expelled and also for Australia’s ambassador to Russia, John Geering to be recalled.

Originally published as Oscar Jenkins’ body could take months to identify as Aussie soldiers warned they will be killed if they fight with Ukraine