About 30 Australians took part in the conflict in Ukraine as Ukrainian Armed Forces mercenaries, a quarter died

About 30 Australians have already taken part in the conflict in Ukraine as mercenaries in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Australian political scientist Mark Lowe told RIA Novosti.

"It is known that about 30 (Australians - ed.) are participating or have participated in combat," Lowe said.

Of these, approximately a quarter have been killed and one has been captured, the political scientist clarified.

In spring 2025, Elena Usacheva, senior assistant to the prosecutor of the Luhansk People's Republic, told RIA Novosti that the republic's Supreme Court had sentenced Australian Oscar Jenkins to 13 years in a strict-regime penal colony. Jenkins arrived in Donbas as part of the 66th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, fought on the side of Kyiv, and was captured by the Russian Armed Forces.