Two British soldiers fighting with the Ukrainian army have appeared on Russian state television after being captured in the besieged port city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine.
Several propaganda clips were broadcast on Rossia 1 and RT channels on Sunday and Monday, showing British citizens Shaun Pinner, 48, and Aiden Aslin, 28. They fought in Mariupol as part of the 36th Naval Brigade of Ukraine.
On Sunday, Pinner, who appeared tired and bruised, spoke to Russian TV war reporter Andrei Rudenko and shared some details about the Battle of Mariupol.
“I fought in Mariupol for five to six weeks and now I’m in the People’s Republic of Donetsk,” Pinner said in English, referring to the eastern region where Russia and pro-Russian separatists have been fighting Ukraine for years. It’s not clear exactly how he was captured or when the video was shot.
Rudenko is heard telling Pinner in Russia that his unit “didn’t stand a chance” in Mariupol.
“The soldiers of the 36th brigade say their command sent them to kill specifically to make them heroes later,” says Rudenko without evidence. “They did not have a single chance to reach this Zachatovka settlement since Russians and DPR [Donetsk People’s Republic] Troops were everywhere.”
At the beginning of the video, Pinner described how he and his unit attempted to evacuate the area.
“We were in the Mariupol industrial zone, it was decided to leave it, but I can’t say exactly where. We set off at four o’clock on Tuesday morning,” Pinner said. “It was dark, we took the wounded. Mortar and artillery attacks began, military aviation worked, panic began.”
In another clip released Monday, Pinner appealed to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to secure his and Aslin’s release by swapping them with pro-Kremlin Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk.
Medvedchuk, a close personal friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was recently captured by Ukrainian special forces while trying to flee the country towards Russia, Ukrainian officials said.
Pinner’s plea was broadcast a few minutes after the Ukrainian security service released a video of Medvedchuk asking to be exchanged with “defenders and residents of Mariupol.”
In another Russian propaganda video over the weekend, Aslin was shown with handcuffs and cuts and bruises on his face, continuing Russian state TV’s talking points about alleged “Nazi atrocities” in Ukraine, used by Moscow to justify its invasion.
Aslin is a former nurse who joined the Ukrainian Navy in 2018 and previously fought for the Syrian Kurdish YPG against the Islamic State in 2015, The Guardian reported.
Russian state television claimed they were both “British mercenaries” who surrendered in Mariupol. Pinner’s family contradicted this claim, saying the former British soldier moved to Ukraine four years ago and joined the Ukrainian army.
“Shaun enjoyed the Ukrainian way of life and has considered Ukraine his adopted homeland for the past four years. During this time he met his Ukrainian wife, who is very focused on the country’s humanitarian needs,” the family told the BBC.
In an interview in late February, Pinner himself told the Daily Mail that he had previously served in the Royal Anglian Regiment and was now fighting as a “contract soldier” in the Ukrainian army.
Outside Mariupol, he said: “I am here to defend my family and my adopted country. Russia started this war – it is funded by Russia and driven by Russia. But we will fight them;
Aslin’s relatives also told The Guardian that Ukraine was “his adopted country” and that he was engaged to a Ukrainian woman.
The families said in a statement they are working with the UK Foreign Office to “ensure their rights as prisoners of war are respected under the Geneva Convention,” which calls for humane treatment of people captured during hostilities.
The Foreign Office also called on the Kremlin to treat British citizens humanely and condemned “the exploitation of prisoners of war for political ends”.
The battered port city of Mariupol appears poised to fall to Russian forces after weeks of siege, which could give Moscow a crucial military victory after a failed attempt to capture the capital and the loss of its flagship, the Black Sea cruiser Moskva.
The capture of Mariupol, which appears to have been virtually razed to the ground, would give the Russians control of significant areas in the south and could potentially free forces to redouble the attack in other areas of eastern Ukraine.
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