BRITISH PoW Aiden Aslin has returned to Ukraine’s frontline – and yesterday told The Sun: “I’ll stay until the war is won.”
Brave Aiden, 30, was beaten, stabbed and tortured by Russian goons after he was captured during the fall of Mariupol in April 2022.
East2WestAiden Aslin is back helping out Ukraine in their war against Russia[/caption]
East2WestAiden Aslin returned to the frontline after he was freed from a Russian jail[/caption]
East2WestBrave Aiden, 30, was beaten, stabbed and tortured by Russian goons after he was captured in April 2022[/caption]
East2WestAslin (left) as he was being sentenced to death 16 months ago[/caption]
He was later sentenced to death before being freed as part of a prisoner swap brokered by ex-Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
The former Ukrainian Marine has since been pictured in the blitzed city of Avdiivka – despite Russia issuing a bounty for him.
In an exclusive interview, he told The Sun: “I’m going nowhere until the war is done and Ukraine is victorious.
“This is my home and my friends are still being held as Prisoners of War.
“As part of the Geneva Convention, I’m not allowed to return to combat.
“But I can help deliver humanitarian aid and medical supplies to the frontline. I’m also preparing trauma kits for soldiers.
“I can’t leave midway and let my friends continue on with the fight.
“There is unfinished business and I intend to do all I can to help the war effort. I refuse to sit back at home and watch this unfold.”
In December, Aiden was honoured by President Volodymyr Zelensky with the Order of Courage for “selfless acts in the defence and sovereignty of Ukraine”.
He added: “We’ve reached the point in the war where things have slowed down but Ukraine still has the upper hand.”
During his time as a PoW, Aiden was beaten up, stabbed and locked in a tiny 6ft by 4ft cell for 24 hours a day.
His Russian captors laughed as they told him: “Yours will be a beautiful death.”
He spoke about his five-month battle for survival in an exclusive interview with the Sun on Sunday shortly after he was freed.
He told how he was deprived of sunlight, interrogated and forced to swear allegiance to Putin in sick videos.
Terrified Aiden was even driven into the countryside and told he would be shot before being sentenced to death at the end of a sham trial for being a mercenary.
His worried family were then bombarded with videos and messages telling them he had been executed by firing squad.
Aiden said: “I never thought I’d get out alive. As soon as we surrendered I knew that I was in serious trouble being British.
“As they flicked through my passport they started to realise it wasn’t Ukrainian. The soldier processing me asked in Russian: ‘Where are you from?’
“I told him I was from Great Britain and as soon as I said that he punched me in the face.
“They separated me from the others and began interviewing me in the back of an armoured vehicle.
“I was of high value.
“They drove me into the countryside, far from any cities, and I 100 per cent thought they were going to see it through.
“I was thinking about my fiance and my family and thinking ‘This is it, this is how it ends’.”
Aiden flew to Ukraine to start a new life in 2018.
He joined the country’s marines and fell in love with Diane, an English teacher at the Ukraine Naval Training Centre.
The couple set up a home in Mykolaiv and Aiden went on to complete three tours of duty before being granted Ukrainian citizenship.
He joined his unit in the defence of Mariupol after Russia invaded in February 2022 but In April was forced to surrender along with 500 other marines.
Aiden was beaten around the head, stabbed in the back and then paraded in front of the cameras by the Russians.
Aiden, of Newark, Notts., said: “The officer was smoking a cigarette and said: “Do you know who I am?
“I said ‘no’ and he replied in Russian: “I am your death”.
“He said: ‘Did you see what I did to you? He pointed to my back. He showed me his knife and I realised he’d stabbed me.
“He then asked me: ‘Do you want a quick death or a beautiful death?’
“I replied in Russian and said ‘a quick death’.
“He smiled and said ‘No, you’re going to have a beautiful death…and I’m going to make sure it’s a beautiful death.”
Aiden was convicted of being a mercenary by a kangaroo court and – along with fellow Brit PoW Shaun Pinner, 50 – was sentenced to death.
But in September 2022, Aiden, Shaun, John Harding, 59, Dylan Healy, 22, and Andrew Hill, were freed as part of a prisoner swap.
The deal was brokered by ex-Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and the Saudi Royal Family.
East2WestHe is now helping give out medical supplies to Ukrainian people[/caption]
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