Ukraine's latest Russian prisoner of war says there are more of him in rebel territory acting as key advisors

The Russian citizen taken prisoner by Ukrainian troops on July 11 outside Donetsk is telling his captors that Russian military personnel are working as advisors to the armed rebels who seized control in Donetsk and Luhansk.

In a video recording uploaded to YouTube by Ukraine's Security Service, the prisoner says his name is Alexey Sedikov. Calling himself a platoon commander, he claims to have come to eastern Ukraine in March this year with a friend.

“We've got Russians here, of course. Soldiers and officers who not only teach, but act as advisors,” he said, adding that Russians hold many of the rebels' leadership positions, such as battalion commanders and deputy chiefs of staff. He also accused the rebels of firing on their own troops, to make it seem as though Ukrainian forces attacked separatist-held areas. “I think they provoked the conflict,” the man said from a Ukrainian hospital, where he is being treated for a leg wound.