Aiden Aslin: The brutal realities of joining the Ukraine war as told by a British volunteer captured by Russian forces
Aiden Aslin, a British prisoner of war who was captured by Russian forces while fighting for the Ukrainian military, has told Forces News his brutal treatment at the hands of his Russian captors was "nothing compared" to the suffering handed out to some of his Ukrainian comrades.
His account of what happened to him after surrendering to Russian forces while fighting for the Ukrainian armed forces lays bare the stark realities of the risks of signing up as a volunteer in the Ukraine-Russia war as a British citizen.
"What I went through, it's like nothing compared to what some of the Ukrainians are going through," Mr Aslin told Forces News.
"There are hundreds of reports that are far worse, like atrocities that are committed against Ukrainians.
"I'd say I got off lightly, compared to what Ukrainians have been going through at the hands of Russian forces."
Mr Aslin, from Nottinghamshire, aged 29, had worked as a care worker before deciding to volunteer for overseas militaries.
He had previously fought with Kurdish armed forces in Syria against the so-called Islamic State group in 2015, and in 2018, he moved to Ukraine, and later joined the Ukrainian military, passing out with Ukraine's 36th Marine Bridge later that year.
After joining Ukrainian forces, he served in their military with a mortar unit.
Speaking of the moments leading up to his capture, he said, day by day, they had "pushed back" until they reached the steel works in Mariupol.
He said by the first week of April last year, the Ukrainian personnel had a second encirclement by Russian forces, cutting them off and leaving them "on their own".
The Russians then destroyed ammunition trucks prepared for a breakout.
"That was the moment we realised this is the last, final moments either alive or in captivity or dead," he said.
"I knew going into captivity was going to be a pretty horrible experience and nothing I can even prepare myself for.
"I decided to make a proof of life video because at that moment I honestly believed that would probably be the last time anyone sees a video of me alive."
After he was captured, Mr Aslin said he was taken to a warehouse with 700 other prisoners of war (POW), with no access to food or water.
After being asked where he is from, he said he was beaten for being British before being told he was being taken to be executed.
That of course, however, did not happen and he was instead moved to another location, where he said he endured more beatings, including being stabbed, and more questioning.
"He [Russian captor] stopped to have a rest and he's just smoking a cigarette, and that's when he says to me 'Do you know who I am?'.
"I'm like no, and then he says 'I am your death... do you want a beautiful death or do you want a quick death?'
Mr Aslin said he was beaten and stabbed before the interrogator was told to stop, with a senior officer worried was going to be killed.
Mr Aslin was taken out of the room by what he said seemed like a Russian officer, who asked him if he was in MI6 or the SAS.
"I said to him 'look at me, do I look like I'm SAS'," Mr Aslin said.
"Then he asked if I work for MI6, I was like 'dude, I'm in mortars, I load the mortar, do I look like I've got the intelligence to be MI6?'."
His brutal captivity led to a show trial and death sentence.
"I just kept hearing death sentence in my head," Mr Aslin explained.
"At this point, in captivity, every day pretty much I'd been taken out repeatedly to do these propaganda videos.
"It was just a constant mind game of being taken out with a hood and not knowing where you're going."
He said this stopped for three weeks to make him "disappear" but then started again.
"The guard would always say something negative, like 'why haven't you been shot yet' or 'now, we're taking you to be shot'.
"So every time I left my cell I didn't know if this was going to be my last few moments alive."
But in September, after five months in captivity, he was exchanged at an airport - with the former Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich playing a key role in negotiating his release and liberation flight to Saudi Arabia.
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