Shaun Pinner's Family Is Hoping For A Swift Resolution

The family of a British man who is believed to have been kidnapped by Russian forces while fighting in Ukraine has expressed hope for a swift resolution to his situation.

Shaun Pinner, 48, appeared on Russian official television with another British man, requesting that they be exchanged for a pro-Russian politician detained in Ukraine.

It's unclear whether they were forced to speak.

The Foreign Office urged the Kremlin to treat detainees with dignity.

"The exploitation of prisoners of war for political reasons," according to a department source.

Mr Pinner's family describes him as a "funny, much-loved, well-intentioned" man who serves in the Ukrainian Army.

They demanded that he be handled in accordance with the Geneva Convention, as was Aiden Aslin, another British citizen captured by the Russians.

The convention stipulates that they be treated decently and that humiliating and degrading treatment be avoided.

On Monday, both Mr Pinner and Mr Aslin came on the Rossiya 24 state television channel and spoke, though it is unclear if they did so under duress.

Mr Pinner addresses Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the video, requesting that the two be swapped for pro-Kremlin lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk, who is detained in Ukraine.

Mr. Aslin, 28, also requests the swap in a different video, while Mr. Medvedchuk appears in a film published by Ukraine's intelligence service.

Mr Pinner, who is from Bedfordshire, gave his identity and said he was fighting in the besieged port city of Mariupol before being captured in an earlier social media video.

He claims to be in eastern Ukraine's breakaway Donetsk People's Republic. It's unclear whether he was speaking under duress.

Mr Pinner's family claimed in a statement that he was a "well-respected" British Army soldier before moving to Ukraine four years ago to apply his past experience and training with the Ukrainian military.