In video, captured British nationals ask Johnson to exchange them for Ukraine's Medvedchuk

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Two British mercenaries captured by the Russian military in Ukraine are apparently asking UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to exchange them for Viktor Medvedchuk, an opposition Ukrainian politician.

In a video message aired by Russian state-run Rossiya 24 TV channel, Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin said they would be grateful if Johnson helped to free them.

Addressing their relatives, they said they are being treated well in captivity and asked that their appeal be given to Johnson.

Separately, Ukraine's Security Service published a video message of Viktor Medvedchuk captured in the besieged city of Mariupol.

Ukraine accuses Medvedchuk, leader of the Opposition Platform—For Life party, of treason, promoting terrorism, and plundering national resources in Crimea, an area of Ukraine illegally annexed by Russian in 2014.

He was supposed to be under house arrest until March 10 but was reported missing by Ukrainian authorities at the end of February.

Later, his lawyer acknowledged that Medvedchuk had left his home in the capital Kyiv due to numerous threats but remained in the city.

At least 1,982 civilians have been killed and 2,651 injured in Ukraine in the nearly two-month-old war, according to UN estimates, with the true figure believed to be much higher.

More than 4.8 million Ukrainians have fled to other countries, with over 7 million more internally displaced, said the UN refugee agency.