EXCLUSIVE: Former British care worker who moved to Odessa for the love of his life and is fighting the Ukrainian military pleads with the West to do more to help besieged Mariupol
- Aiden Aslin moved to Ukraine in 2018 after falling in love with a woman in Nikolaev.
- The 28-year-old Briton has been serving in the Ukrainian armed forces for the fourth year.
- When Russia invaded, he was in the Donbass, where Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian military forces have been fighting since 2014.
- In video messages, he described how Russian troops are steadily pushing him and his comrades to the outskirts of Mariupol.
A former UK care worker turned Marine in the Ukrainian military posted two videos from the outskirts of besieged Mariupol, pleading with Western politicians to do more to help the stricken city.
Aiden Aslin, 28, moved to Ukraine in 2018 after falling in love with a woman from Nikolaev, another Black Sea port near Odessa.
Now he is serving in the Ukrainian armed forces for the fourth year, in the spring of this year he was supposed to get married and finish his service in September.
But the war put an end to any plans.
When Russia invaded, he was in the Donbass, where Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian military forces have been waging a low-key war since 2014.
In video messages, he described how he and his comrades were being steadily pushed back to the outskirts of Mariupol by Russian advances.
Dressed in a military uniform, he said of Mariupol: “We still control the city. Ukrainians are fighting day and night. The will is extremely strong and they are not going to submit to Russian imperialism.
“We were pushed back from our defensive forward lines in the Donbas direction. Gradually, day after day, we were pushed back to Mariupol, and since we came to Mariupol, we are on the outskirts, protecting it, just on the very outskirts.
And he argued that instead of attacking military targets like his company, the Russians were deliberately targeting civilians.
He said: “Russian forces continue to strike at civilian areas where we are not. I know this first hand because I have watched it.
“I saw several Grad vehicles launch their rockets into civilian areas behind us, and they are the Russian military, so if they are as professional as they say, then they know who they are targeting.”
Aiden Aslin, 28, moved to Ukraine in 2018 after falling in love with a woman from Nikolaev, another Black Sea port near Odessa. Now he is serving in the Ukrainian armed forces for the fourth year, in the spring of this year he was supposed to get married and finish his service in September.
Aiden Aslin is a former guardian who previously fought against ISIS in Syria. Now he is ready to fight against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
He made clear the consequences of such tactics: “Many dead. Victims every day. I really sympathize with them because there is nothing they can do. They are not participating in this war. There is no need to target them.
– You saw the Mariupol theater on the news, where people hid where, in their opinion, there was a safe haven. It was hit by an airstrike. The entire building has now been leveled to the ground.
“I don’t know how much people care about what I say, but if there are Americans or Brits who fucking care about the shit that is going on here, then put pressure on your politicians to do everything in their power.” . because airstrikes are the biggest problem at the moment.
“Not because they are targeting us (the army), but because they are targeting civilians indiscriminately, so I don’t know what else to say. I hope you see another video from me in the future.”
Aiden, from Newark in Nottinghamshire, was a 22-year-old caregiver with some security experience when he was so outraged by the Islamic State takeover of Syria in 2015 that he left the UK and joined the Kurdish YPG.
Aslin’s partner, for whom he moved to Ukraine, was from Nikolaev, which was heavily attacked by Russian troops trying to reach Odessa. Pictured: A Ukrainian soldier guards a building damaged by a military strike as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, Mykolaiv, Ukraine, March 21, 2022.
Aiden, from Newark in Nottinghamshire, was a 22-year-old caregiver with some security experience when he was so outraged by the Islamic State takeover of Syria in 2015 that he left the UK and joined the Kurdish YPG. Pictured: Aiden appears on Good Morning Britain.
He was arrested on suspicion of terrorist attacks when he returned to the UK, but he was never charged and eventually went on a journey when his passport was returned to him.
It was during these travels that he met the woman who is now his fiancee and moved to Ukraine.
He said she fled to Hungary after Russian troops tried to take over her hometown of Nikolaev and then shelled the area where she lived.
“The last time I saw her was in January,” he added.
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