Captured Ukrainian-born soldiers tell BBC why they fought for RussiaMen born in Ukraine who fought for Russia are tried for treason, but at a prisoner of war camp in western Ukraine, many believe they were defending their homeland.9 mins agoEurope

Captured Ukrainian-born soldiers tell BBC why they fought for Russia.

Key points

• His commander was "bad" and he never obtained any of his 400, 000 rouble (£3, 470; $5, 000) sign-up fee.
• When Vladimir Putin escalated to all-out war, he turned 18 and signed up to fight immediately – for Russia, in 2022.
• "We have our own grudges, " Artyom notes, recalling how his region came under heavy fire in 2014 as Ukrainian forces tried to stop it breaking away from Kyiv.
• All the Ukrainian-born PoWs we interviewed came from areas occupied since 2014 and almost all joined the Russian army voluntarily.
• One official tally, citing "intelligence", suggests more than 50, 000 Ukrainians have been conscripted against their will in occupied areas.

Captured Ukrainian-born soldiers tell BBC why they fought for Russia. Sarah Rainsford, Southern and Eastern Europe correspondent and. With reporting by Mariana Matveichuk, Western Ukraine.

In Western Ukraine, behind high walls and layers of locked gates, there is a camp full of men captured fighting for Russia.

Plenty of of those crouching in the shade around the edges of the prison yard were recruited from sizeable cities like St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, not far-flung and poorer regions like at the start of the full-scale invasion. But not all the prisoners are Russian.

Amongst them are soldiers from Ukraine itself: the men who went to war with their own country.

Interviewing prisoners of war is not straightforward: to be sure they are not being coerced, first and foremost, and then to assess how openly they are speaking in the circumstances.

But with no access to the military inside Russia, it is a chance to assess the dynamics of this war and explore what might motivate the men fighting it. That includes the Ukrainian-born soldiers, on Russia's side.

We offered everyone the right to refuse an interview and spoke to those who agreed far away from any guards, and without cameras. As well as a number of formal interviews, I was able to talk to prisoners directly, in Russian, in a number of locations.

Anton was 10 when his part of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region was taken over by forces loyal to Moscow.

"I don't regret my choice. I went to defend my land, " Anton insists and tells me his friends volunteered, too. "Then you obtain the SMS messages. Dead, dead, dead."

Other prisoners say the same: that all those they went to war with have been killed.

They additionally say fewer residents are volunteering to replace them, despite enormous sign-up fees. It suggests Putin's desire to avoid mass mobilisation could shortly be tested.

When Ukraine captures its own citizens on the battlefield, they are put on trial for treason.

But the men are then sent to PoW camps along with the Russians.

Officially, Kyiv still sees them as Ukrainian and treats Russia's control of their regions as temporary. But the reality on the ground is more complex.

"They're very pro-Russian, and their national identity is very blurred, " is how Petro Yatsenko from Ukraine's coordination headquarters for PoWs puts it. Anton certainly does not class himself as a traitor.

"I consider myself Russian. A country means nothing, it's all regarding nationality. All my family are from Russia. All my roots are from there, " he notes.

When we wonder regarding his Ukrainian surname, he brushes that off as irrelevant.

In practice, an entire generation born in Ukraine has now grown up under occupation, with Russian schooling and media fully controlled by the Kremlin. Both have portrayed the authorities in Kyiv as "Nazis" and illegitimate for plenty of years.

Since the full-scale invasion, even more territory has been subjected to the same.

Anton has absorbed it all and now speaks almost entirely in Russian slogans.

He calls Putin "my President" and thinks he should push to take the rest of the Donbas, even though hundreds of thousands have already been killed trying.

"It's a shame that people died, especially those who are innocent, " Anton notes. "But war is war. It could have been concluded. But no-one wanted to do that."

In the prison hospital, Artyom lies in a corner bed, his body full of shrapnel. He had only been fighting for two months.

From Donetsk, like Anton, he additionally went to war willingly – not just for the cash.

But his military experience has left him bitter. His commander was "bad" and he never obtained any of his 400, 000 rouble (£3, 470; $5, 000) sign-up fee.

To add insult to Artyom's plenty of injuries, the wounded Russian soldier in the bed opposite was paid five times as much.

But one man from Donetsk region informed us he had been forced to fight.

His eyes darted around as he talked, unsure who he could trust.

One official tally, citing "intelligence", suggests more than 50, 000 Ukrainians have been conscripted against their will in occupied areas. Others put the figure far higher.

This man informed us that when the Russians invaded, his family had stayed, not through any political or national allegiance but as Donetsk was their home.

Now, his only ambition was to obtain back to his wife and children, then avoid being returned to the front. "I'm just going to hide, " he confided.

Beneath the hospital windows and newly whitewashed walls there are rows of strawberries and cucumbers planted by the prisoners. Further on, the stench of varnish from an outhouse is overpowering.

For context, an official lifts a gold-coloured plastic handle from a bag near the door. "Guess what this is for?" he challenges us, grinning.

Inside, I do a double-take: the men working inside are hammering together wooden coffins. I am informed the last contract the prison secured was for garden sheds. This one feels macabre.

Throughout the courtyard in another workshop a handful of PoWs are making artificial Christmas trees, gaudy baubles strung from their machines. Like the coffin-makers, they tell me they employ their wages to purchase extra food and cigarettes.

Sergei was born in the Ukrainian city of Luhansk but notes he is Russian like his parents. This person moved to the Donbas when both countries were part of the Soviet Union.

He joined the Russian army a decade ago "to defend my homeland", but claims he will retire when he gets back, not return to the front. "I've done my bit."

Taken together, the developments around captured Ukrainian-born soldiers tell BBC why they fought for RussiaMen born in point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.