A British citizen named Nathan Stobbart is reported missing in action as he serves with Russian troops in Ukraine. His enlistment remained hidden from his British relatives, who are now urgently seeking information about his whereabouts.

Valerie Stobbart, Nathan's mother, received a distressing text from her daughter-in-law in December 2025 that upended her world.

The message came from Ksenia in Russia, where she resides with Valerie's 30-year-old son and their infant. Nathan had enlisted to fight Ukraine and then disappeared without trace.

"I can't even describe it," Valerie says.

"I remember walking in and telling Sean [Valerie's partner], and we were just both in total shock."

Her son had claimed he worked as an electrical contractor, leaving her unaware he had joined the Russian forces in April the previous year.

"You think that somebody is living this lovely little life with a new family and then suddenly you find out that they've gone, they're missing," she says.

"They've completely disappeared off the face of the earth."

Nathan relocated to Russia on Christmas Day 2024 to begin a fresh chapter with Ksenia.

They connected online, after which she visited him and his family in the UK.

The pair wed in Russia and raised their child as an ordinary young household.

They also cared for Ksenia's three children from an earlier relationship, making a move of the entire family to the UK financially unfeasible, Valerie notes.

She initially questioned Nathan's choice to move but accepted it since the couple lived far from active combat zones.

They discussed the war "but it was happening in Ukraine, it wasn't happening in Russia", she says.

"It had no effect on them at all."

Before Ksenia's message, Valerie saw no signs of trouble. Regular photos and videos of her new grandchild kept life feeling routine.

As time passed after Nathan vanished, the full weight of the crisis grew clearer.

The family learned he had made a farewell video at the outset of his service, intended for his wife to share with his mother if he died.

"I could only watch it once," Valerie says. "I had to turn it off."

Despite the recording and his long absence, she holds that her son remains alive.

The search for answers has proved exhausting for Valerie, who has reached out to officials and aid groups in both the UK and Russia.

"I contacted the Foreign Office and got a caseworker there, but they admitted themselves that they can't do anything," she says.

"Nobody tells you what to do."

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office stated it knew of reports concerning a British national missing after fighting for Russia in Ukraine and remained "in contact with his family".

It noted it advises against all travel to Russia and "our ability to provide consular support in these circumstances is severely limited".

Inquiries to Russian authorities about Nathan's final location yielded no results. "They just kept saying everything was classified," Valerie says. "They wouldn't even tell us where he was."

Valerie spends her free hours searching online for any trace.

"The days just roll on, the weeks roll on," she says, wiping away tears. "We're nine months down the line with no more answers than we had in the beginning."

Yet she clings to the possibility he is held captive but alive, and monitors official prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine via Reuters. None have listed Nathan's name.

She stays hopeful he would at least be identified, since Russian officials hold his DNA from his child.

With "nothing to lose", Valerie reached out to share her account of Nathan's disappearance and her job loss.

She hoped the piece might reach someone who had contact with her son, yet it drew harsh online criticism of his choice to fight for Russia.

"I did read some of the comments when the article went out but I stopped because they were just awful," she says.

Now she exists in daily uncertainty, refusing to abandon the search and holding onto the chance he will be found alive after all options for assistance have been tried.

"Every single day I think my phone could go and somebody somewhere is going to say 'we've found him'," she says.

"I have read reports of Russians that have turned up after a year of being in captivity, or whatever, and their families thought they were dead.

"So every day there is a new hope he could be found."