New unverified video emerges of Australian in Russian captivity

Australia is again demanding Russia release Oscar Jenkins after a new video emerged of the captured fighter being held as a prisoner of war.

Transcript

00:00Well, first I want to say that we call on Russia to release Mr Jenkins.

00:10We hold serious concerns for his welfare, and I have and we will continue to engage

00:16with both Ukraine and the International Committee of the Red Cross in relation to Mr Jenkins.

00:23The government was aware of this video in recent days.

00:29I will say, we do know, that Russia is very prone to misinformation and disinformation,

00:37and I think in relation to Mr Jenkins more generally, we should always be aware of Russia's

00:44propensity to provide us with incorrect information.

00:50Is Australia discussing a prisoner swap directly with Russian officials?

00:54Well, you would know that the way I approach all of these consular matters is to engage

01:02in a strategy that we believe, and that I believe, is most likely to maximise eventual

01:08success, which is what we want.

01:10We want Mr Jenkins returned home, so I'm certainly not going to speculate on those matters.

01:15And you're confident we're still having dialogue with Russia?

01:18I would make the point, we've obviously made our position very clear to Russia, we've obviously

01:22made our position very clear to Russia, and we will continue to do so, and what I would

01:26say is, Mr Jenkins is a prisoner of war, that there are Geneva Conventions, international

01:32law which apply to him, and Russia must observe them.

01:36New Zealand's today said it would contemplate having a peacekeeping presence for Ukraine.

01:41Is that something Australia will entertain?

01:43We've obviously provided a great deal of military support and humanitarian support to Ukraine.

01:50We obviously continue to back Ukraine against Russia in Russia's illegal and immoral war

01:56against the people and territory of Ukraine.

01:59I'm not going to speculate on matters, obviously there's a lot of dialogue and negotiations

02:05currently being engaged in, but I would say again that the UN Charter protects all of

02:11us, it has a prohibition against countries invading your territory, and we all have to

02:17stand firm against Russia and Mr Putin.