Two Britons captured by Russian forces ‘are sentenced to death’ for fighting in Ukraine 

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Two British men captured by pro-Russian rebel forces in Ukraine have been sentenced to death and are set to face a firing squad after a sham three-day trial, sparking outrage from the UK and its Western allies.

Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were convicted last night of being ‘mercenaries’ for fighting with Ukrainian troops weeks after they were captured by Russian forces during the siege of Mariupol.

They appeared behind a metal cage at a court in territory occupied by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine as the verdict was read out today. 

Ex-British Army soldier Pinner stared at the ground and appeared distraught and close to tears, while former care worker Aslin remained composed. A third man, Moroccan national Saaudun Brahim, was convicted alongside them.

It is understood Aslin’s mother Ang Wood found out about the draconian sentence while watching the TV news at the family home in Newark, Nottinghamshire.

The pair were captured by Russian forces after becoming surrounded in the port city of Mariupol in April. They have since been paraded in various videos with visible injuries and appeared to read from scripts.

Tonight, MP Robert Jenrick said: ‘This disgusting Soviet-era style show trial is the latest reminder of the depravity of Putin’s regime.’

Meanwhile, the Russian leader was today pictured meeting young entrepreneurs in Moscow as the barbaric sentencing unfolded.  

The three men said they will appeal the decision. The court in the DPR, one of two self-proclaimed break-away states in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas, is not internationally recognised.

The devastated family of Aslin today demanded he is ‘treated with respect’ as it was revealed his mother Ang Wood only found out about the verdict while watching television.

In a statement, the family said: ‘We’ve heard the news from Donetsk and need some time to take everything in.

‘We love Aiden with all our hearts. He and Shaun, as members of Ukrainian armed forces, should be treated with respect just like any other prisoners of war. They are not, and never were, mercenaries.

‘We hope that this sentence will be overturned and beseech the government’s of the UK and Ukraine to do everything in their power to have them returned to us safely, and soon.

‘We can only imagine what they are going through right now. This is a very upsetting development and we ask that our privacy is respected at this time.’

Aslin’s brother also reacted with shock at the news this evening and said his family needed time to comprehend the situation.

He said: ‘We’ve just been informed ourselves, currently my mum is in talks with the Foreign Office, but we are requesting that we have time to process this information privately due to how sensitive it is.’

The UK Government insisted the judgment had no legitimacy and the pair should be treated as prisoners of war. The UK’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss condemned the death sentences as a ‘sham judgment’ while No10 Downing Street said it was ‘deeply concerned’ by the development. ‘Under the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war are entitled to combatant immunity,’ said a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

Elsewhere, Austrian Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic said: ‘The illegitimate verdict is a blatant breach of international law and a provocation by the Russian war party.’

Former care worker Aslin moved from Newark in Nottinghamshire to Ukraine in 2018 after meeting his now-fiancee. In the same year he became a marine with the Ukrainian military. Pinner, an ex-British Army soldier originally from Bedfordshire, moved to Ukraine four years ago to join the Ukrainian military.

The two Britons surrendered in April in Mariupol, the southern port city that was captured by Russian troops after a brutal weeks-long siege that all but levelled the city. They later appeared on Russian TV calling on Johnson to negotiate their release.  Brahim surrendered in March in the eastern town of Volnovakha.

‘The Supreme Court of the DPR passed the first sentence on mercenaries – the British Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and the Moroccan Saadun Brahim were sentenced to death, RIA Novosti correspondent reports from the courtroom,’ RIA said on the Telegram messaging app.

Judge Alexander Nikulin said: ‘The aggregated penalty for the crimes [means] the sentence Aiden Aslin to an exceptional measure of punishment, the death penalty.

‘The aggregated penalty for the crimes [means] the sentence [of] Shaun Pinner to an exceptional measure of punishment, the death penalty.’  

The judge did not mention another British detainee Andrew Hill, 35, a father of four from Plymouth, who surrendered separately to Vladimir Putin’s forces, but who has also been warned about a death penalty.

The sentence was issued after a three day trial in which the five ‘witnesses’ in the case did not appear. The three men stood in a court cage.

Aslin and Pinner were detained in April while fighting in Ukraine, before reportedly appearing in court in the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Wednesday.

They are said to have admitted ‘training in order to carry out terrorist activities,’ before appearing again on Thursday when they were sentenced.

It is believed the men will be permitted to lodge an appeal within one month, and to ask for a pardon from the rebel authorities in Donetsk.

The DPR released a video of the three men being read their sentences. 

Reacting to the news in the UK, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Twitter: ‘I utterly condemn the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner held by Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine.

‘They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy. My thoughts are with the families. We continue to do everything we can to support them.’

A No 10 spokesman said: ‘We have said continually that prisoners of war shouldn’t be exploited for political purposes. You will know that under the Geneva Convention prisoners of war are entitled to combatant immunity and they should not be prosecuted for participation in hostilities.

‘So we will continue to work with the Ukrainian authorities to try and secure the release of any British nationals who were serving in the Ukrainian armed forces and who are being held as prisoners of war.’

Tory former minister Robert Jenrick, who represents the Newark constituency where Mr Aslin lived, called for the Russian ambassador to the UK to be summoned to the Foreign Office.

He said: ‘This disgusting Soviet-era style show trial is the latest reminder of the depravity of Putin’s regime. Russia should be clear, they cannot treat British citizens like this and get away with it.

‘Contrary to the Kremlin’s propaganda, Aiden Aslin is not a mercenary. He has been living in Ukraine and serving in its armed forces before Russia’s illegal invasion and as a prisoner of war is entitled to protection under the Geneva Convention.

‘The Russian ambassador should be summoned to the Foreign Office to account for this most egregious breach of the Geneva Convention.

‘Aiden must be released as soon as practicable.’

Shadow Europe minister Stephen Doughty said: ‘It is an outrageous and shameful breach of international law for the Russian regime or its puppets to use an illegitimate court to prosecute legitimate prisoners of war who are entitled to combatant immunity.’

James Cleverly, Minister at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, also took to Twitter to condemn the ‘verdict’. ‘The UK position on the status of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner is clear,’ he said.

‘They are prisoners of war and must be treated as such. The judgment against them has no legitimacy. We will continue to support them.

Stephen Doughty MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Europe, said: ‘It is an outrageous and shameful breach of international law for the Russian regime or its puppets to use an illegitimate court to prosecute legitimate prisoners of war who are entitled to combatant immunity.

‘The international law of armed conflict must be upheld at all times. The FCDO must urgently support the families of these soldiers who will be in deep distress at this time.’

Layla Moran – the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokeswoman – said: ‘This is horrific and a clear breach of international law. My thoughts are with these brave men and their families at this deeply distressing time.

‘It’s vital that the UK Government swiftly engages with international partners – we need a unified front of condemnation at this egregious decision.’

Human rights organisation Amnesty International called the decision ‘grotesque’, saying that Thursday’s court appearance bore all the hallmarks of a show-trial.

‘This is a grotesque decision,’ Amnesty International UK’s Crisis Response Manager, said. ‘This so-called trial always had the appearance of a show trial designed to exert pressure on the UK, and these sentences look like they’re intended to fire a warning shot to the UK over its support for Ukraine in this brutal war.

‘The Geneva Conventions clearly state that prisoners of war must not be tried or sentenced simply for participating in hostilities, and still less should they ever receive death sentences.

‘Russia and its proxies in the Donetsk People’s Republic will be adding to a massive catalogue of war crimes if they attempt to carry out these sentences.

‘The UK and the UN and other bodies should inform Moscow that these sentences are completely unacceptable and must be quashed immediately.’

RIA news agency said Sunday that the investigation found Aslin had taken part in ‘the armed aggression of Ukraine to forcibly seize power in the republic for a reward.’

‘The criminal case was sent to court, the first hearing will be held soon,’ it noted. 

The announcement from the DPR Prosecutor General’s Office, which was posted to Telegram, said Mr Aslin had been charged with four separate offences: Committing a crime as part of a criminal group; forcible seizure of power or forcible retention of power; being a mercenary; and the promotion of training in terrorist activities.

‘Taking into account wartime, on the basis of the provisions of the current main law, according to the results of the trial, the mercenary may be assigned an exceptional measure of punishment – the death penalty,’ the statement said.

Aslin had previously travelled to Syria in 2015 to fight for the Kurds in a western-backed alliance against ISIS, and he made headlines on his return to the UK in 2016 when he was arrested and charged with terrorism offences. All charges were dropped.

Aslin then returned to Syria in 2017 to help in the fight to re-take the city of Raqqa, which had been the de-facto capital of ISIS’s terror-state.

After being arrested in the UK a second time trying to return from Syria via Greece, Aslin moved to Ukraine after falling for Diane.

Having heard about the fight against Russia in Donbas from Ukrainian volunteers in Syria, he was persuaded to join the military and in 2018 signed up as a marine.

Aslin completed three tours of the frontline and was dug into trenches in the Donbas in late February when Putin’s troops stormed across the border in a second invasion.

However, his unit surrendered to the invaders two days ago after they ran out of supplies and ammunition following 48 days of conflict in and around the besieged port city. 

Pinner, meanwhile, is a former Royal Anglian soldier originally from Bedfordshire. He also fought alongside Ukrainian resistance fighters. He had moved to Ukraine four years before joining Ukrainian marines.

In footage shared by Ria Novosti on social media on Wednesday, a translator can be heard asking Mr Aslin if he would ‘plead guilty’ to an offence, to which he replied: ‘Yes.’

Ria Novosti reported yesterday that the charge carries a term of 15 to 20 years’ imprisonment with restriction of freedom for a term of one to two years or life imprisonment. 

The video appeared to show the two Britons in the dock in the pro-Russian territory’s supreme court alongside a third man, reported to be Mr Brahim.

On Wednesday, the Foreign Office condemned the exploitation of prisoners of war for political purposes in the wake of the footage being released, and said it was working with the Ukrainian government on the issue of British captives.

Jenrick said Wednesday Mr Aslin should be returned home at the earliest opportunity, possibly through a prisoner exchange.

The MP condemned the ‘trumped-up charges’ faced by both Britons and accused Russia of a ‘completely outrageous breach of international law’.

On Monday, Dominic Raab said the Foreign Office will ‘make all the representations’ on Mr Aslin’s behalf and his family have also issued an emotional statement calling for his release.

They said: ‘We, the family of Aiden Aslin, wish to ask for privacy at this time from the media. This is a very sensitive and emotional time for our family, and we would like to say thank you to all that have supported us.

‘We are currently working with the Ukrainian government and the Foreign Office to try and bring Aiden home. Aiden is a much-loved man and very much missed, and we hope that he will be released very soon.’

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: ‘We are working with the government of Ukraine on the detention of British Nationals.

‘We condemn the exploitation of Prisoners of War for political purposes. They are entitled to combatant immunity and should not be prosecuted for participation in hostilities.’

Western countries have provided weapons and aid for Ukraine since the February 24 invasion, while a number of people from abroad have come to fight against Russian forces.

The fiercest fighting is now focused on Severodonetsk in the Lugansk region, where Ukrainian officials say their outgunned forces are still holding out amid street battles despite the city being mostly under Russian control.

The regional governor of Lugansk – also part of the Donbas – said Western artillery would quickly help secure a Ukrainian victory for the bombarded city.

‘As soon as we have long-range artillery to be able to conduct duels with Russian artillery, our special forces can clean up the city in two to three days,’ governor Sergiy Gaiday said. 

In his evening address to the Ukrainian people on Wednesday, Zelensky said the battle for the city was ‘probably one of the most difficult throughout this war.

‘In many ways, the fate of our Donbas is being decided there.’

Up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers were being killed every day in frontline fighting and as many as 500 wounded, Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said.

The city of Lysychansk, which is separated from Severodonetsk by a river, is still in Ukrainian hands but under fierce Russian bombardment.

After being repelled from Kyiv following their February 24 invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops have refocused their offensive on the Donbas.

Pro-Russian separatists have held part of that region since 2014.

Moscow, which has repeatedly warned the West against getting involved in the conflict, said it had targeted a Ukrainian training centre for ‘foreign mercenaries’ in the Zhytomyr region, west of Kyiv.

The Ukrainian presidency said four people were killed in a Russian air strike on Toshkivka, a village around 14 miles south of Severodonetsk.

Four more people were killed in fighting in Donetsk and shelling killed two in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, it said. Another person was killed in the Mykolayiv region in the south.

The war’s shockwaves are spreading around the world. At the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres added his voice to increasingly dire warnings.

‘For people around the world, the war is threatening to unleash an unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution, leaving social and economic chaos in its wake,’ he said.

Zelensky on Thursday called for Russia to be expelled from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), blaming Moscow for ‘causing hunger’ and spurring the global grain crisis by invading his country.

Another day, another two Russian colonels killed in Ukraine: Putin loses one of his youngest commanders as bitter fighting for Severodonetsk rages on in battle that will decide fate of Donbas

Vladimir Putin has lost two more colonels in Ukraine – including one of Russia’s youngest to reach such a high rank – as a video showed a Russian battalion being hit with artillery fire while attempting to rescue a casualty.

Elsewhere, in another blow to the Kremlin’s war efforts, a separate video released this week showed Ukrainian bombs destroying a Russian ammo depo in a huge ball of flames. Images released by Kyiv also appeared to show a destroyed Russian unit.

These are the latest examples of Ukraine’s forces putting up a fierce resistance against Putin’s invading forces. Moscow expected to capture Kyiv within days of invading on February 24, but its forces have instead been drawn into a protracted conflict that has resulted in tens-of-thousands Russian military losses.

Meanwhile, bitter fighting for the eastern city of Severodonetsk continued to rage on Thursday, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the fate of the whole Donbas region hinges on the ‘very fierce’ battle.

The deaths of the two high-ranking military figures mean the Kremlin has seen at least 52 colonels killed during the bloody conflict.

Lt-Col Vadim Gerasimov, aged only 36, a battalion from Leningrad region, was posthumously awarded a Hero of Russia – the country’s highest honour – on Putin’s orders. His widow was also expected to receive his posthumous Order of Courage.

His funeral was being held on Thursday in Russia’s Leningrad region. A graduate of the prestigious Frunze military academy, he was the father of a daughter.

Details of his citation for the Hero of Russia award were not immediately available.

The second high-ranked officer whose death was revealed today is Colonel Ruslan Shirin, a brigade commander, who ‘heroically died in battle’.

He was chief of staff of the 336th Separate Guards Marine Brigade, part of the Baltic Fleet. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.

It was not clear how and where in the Ukrainian war zone the colonels were killed. 

Reports of their deaths came as a video showed a Russian battalion being shelled by Ukrainian forces as they attempted rescue a casualty.

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The aerial footage, showing a dirt road running through some woodland, saw Russian soldiers trying to drag their fallen comrade back to what appealed to be an armoured personnel carrier. 

Suddenly, a large explosion rocked the soldiers as Ukrainian artillery landed just feet away from the armoured vehicle. Smoke covered the scene as the soldiers attempted to crawl back to vehicle in a desperate attempt to escape. Reports suggested at least one soldier was killed in the strike, and others injured. 

Elsewhere, more aerial footage showed a Ukrainian attack on a Russian ammunition dump on Wednesday in Voskresenka, Zaporizhia Oblast, in Ukrainian territory that is currently held by the Russian invaders.

The attack was carried out by members of the 44th Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces with the support of aerial reconnaissance by the 81st Airmobile Brigade of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, the 44th said.

Video of the attack showed a series of massive explosions as Ukrainian artillery hit its mark, igniting munitions inside the warehouse – some of which could be seen firing off in different directions into the air above the building.

Initial strikes appeared to only collapse the roof and cause a number of smaller fires, but as the attack continued, one huge fireball erupted from the warehouse, ripping it apart and destroying at least half the building completely.

According to the Daily Express, a 15-year-old boy used a camera drone to locate the warehouse, which in-turn allowed Ukraine’s military to target it.

The brigade said on 8th June: ‘Artillerymen of the 44th OAbr of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with the support of aerial reconnaissance of the 81st brigade of the 5th BTGR, bombed the accumulation of enemy equipment and ammunition in the Pologovsky district.

‘It is known that Russian troops fired at three settlements in the Pologovsky district. Enemy shells hit Gulyaipole, the villages of Dobropolye and Upper Tersa.

‘Earlier, the Russian military left some positions in the Melitopol and Vasilyevsky regions. As it became known, they moved in the direction of Kherson region.’

The deaths of the two colonels were revealed two days after the 50th colonel – artillery commander Lt Col Vladimir Nigmatullin, 46 – was confirmed dead.

Russia recently lost its 11th general of the conflict, Major-General Roman Kutuzov was the chief of staff of the 29th Combined Arms Army.

He was awarded a posthumous promotion to Lieutenant-General.

Some sources have claimed that Russia lost a second and more senior general – Lieutenant-General Roman Berdnikov, 47 – in the same incident in Donetsk region.

There have been claims that Ukraine has received Western intelligence assistance to target Putin’s commanders in the field, in an attempt to weaken the morale of Russian forces.

Whether or not this is the case, a large number of high ranking officers have been killed, with almost one colonel every two days in the war.

The news came after a mercenary who gained notoriety for butchering prisoners of war and civilians in the Donbas was also been killed, in another blow to Putin.

Vladimir Andonov, 44, a fighter for the shadowy Wagner Group, was shot by a sniper near Kharkiv during a reconnaissance missions on June 5, Russian media says.

Andonov was known to Russians as ‘Vakha’ or ‘the volunteer from Buryatia’ after the region he was from, but to Ukrainians as ‘the executioner’ for massacres he helped carry out during Russia‘s first invasion of the country in 2014.is death was confirmed by Zhambal-Zhamso Zhanaev, head of the region where Andonov was from, who spoke to Russian newspaper Moskovskij Komsomolets.