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The British family of a fighter fighting in Ukraine is now talking about its horror after seeing their relative beaten amid reports that he has been captured by the Russians.
Aiden Aslin of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, appears to have been handcuffed after being handed over to Russian troops.
The fighter, who joined the Ukrainian army in 2018, posted on his Twitter account on April 12 that there was “no food or ammunition left” in his unit, and he said they had been forced to surrender.
Now his family has responded in “shock” to a photo posted online by pro-Russian social media accounts, showing a man huddled in a chair with facial injuries.
His 25-year-old brother, Nathan Wood, told MailOnline: “It’s so shocking for our family to see Aiden in this condition. What did the Russians do to him? He looks awful, completely exhausted. His face is drained of color. How do you have such big red spots on your forehead? He appears to have been hit with the butt of a rifle.
“But as horrible as it is to see him in such a state, it shows that he is still alive and that gives us some relief as a family. Again, I would call on the Russians to treat him well and humanely.
He added: “Now there is no doubt that he has been captured. I had hoped that the conversation about handing over his part was just a smokescreen, but now the images clearly show that he is in Russian captivity.
His mother told the newspaper, “It’s Aidan, I can’t deny it. He’s … He already looks like he’s been beaten. “
This comes after the Telegraph reported that one of the social media captions in the photos said: “Aiden Aslin. United Kingdom, Nottingham. An English mercenary who fought on the side of the Nazis in Mariupol. Many lost it, but we found it. An interesting interview is coming up soon. “
A friend of Mr Aslin’s told the newspaper that the photo really looked like him and one of his distinctive tattoos could be seen.
Mr. Aslin’s detachment was defending the southern city of Mariupol, which had been heavily bombed by Russian troops.
On Tuesday, the 28-year-old wrote on Twitter: “48 days have passed, we have done everything possible to defend Mariupol, but we have no choice but to surrender to Russian forces.
His mother, Ang Wood, told the BBC that her son had no choice but to surrender.
“He called me and said they didn’t have weapons to fight,” she said. “I love my son, he’s my hero – they fought like hell.”
She added: “Boris [Johnson] must take [Vladimir] Putin has fallen. “
Friends of the soldier have expressed fears of potential ill-treatment by Russian forces after his capture.
“Everything from now on [bad] “What is happening to him is a war crime by Russian forces,” his friend Brennan Phillips told The Times.
“I am worried that he will be tortured, I am worried that he will be killed … To distort him, that he is a foreign mercenary or part of a paramilitary organization.
“Any excuse they can use to harass him. That’s what worries me the most. “
Russia says it captured about 1,000 members of Mr Aslin’s brigade on Wednesday.
But the Ukrainian Azov Regiment later released a video claiming that some members of the Marines had exploded successfully.
Mr Aslin had previously traveled to Syria to fight with the Kurdish armed forces against Islamic State between 2015 and 2016.
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