Aiden Aslin
(Picture: Twitter)The family of a British man fighting in Ukraine have spoken of their horror after photos emerged of him appearing to have suffered injuries at the hands of his Russian captors.
Aiden Aslin, from Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, was shown in a photo with injuries to his face and hands in handcuffs.
The fighter, who joined Ukraine’s military in 2018, posted to his Twitter account on April 12 that his unit had "no food or ammunition" left and they were being forced to surrender.
His brother Nathan Wood, 25, told MailOnline it was “shocking” to see Aiden in such a state.
“What have the Russians done to him? He looks awful, absolutely exhausted. His face is drained of colour. How has he got such a big red mark on his forehead? That looks like he’s been hit with a rifle butt.
”But however horrible it is to see him in such a state, it does show that he is still alive and that is giving us as a family some slight relief. I would appeal again to the Russians to treat him well and humanely.”
He added: “There is no doubt now that he has been captured. I had hoped talk of his unit surrendering was just a smokescreen but the images now clearly show he’s in Russian captivity.”
His mother Ang Wood told the newspaper: “It’s Aiden I can’t deny it. It’s him... It already looks like he has been beaten up... I’m in bits. My son will be scared just as we are.”
A message next to the photo posted on Twitter said: “Aiden Aslin. Britain, 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 soon."
Mr Aslin’s unit had been defending the southern city of Mariupol which has been heavily bombarded by Russian troops.
On Tuesday, the 28-year-old posted on Twitter: “It’s been 48 days, we tried our best to defend Mariupol but we have no choice but to surrender to Russian forces.”
Earlier, his mother told the BBC her son had no choice but to surrender.
“He called me and said they have no weapons left to fight,” she said. “I love my son, he is my hero - they put up one hell of a fight.”
She added: “Boris [Johnson] needs to take [Vladimir] Putin down.”
Friends of the soldier have voiced fears about potential mistreatment from Russian forces after his capture.
“From this point on anything [bad] that happens to him is a war crime by the Russian forces,” his friend Brennan Philipps told The Times newspaper.
“I’m worried that he’s going to get tortured, I’m worried that he’s going to get murdered... That they will twist this as him being a foreign mercenary or part of a paramilitary organisation.
“Any excuse they can use to abuse him. That is what I’m most worried about.”
Russia claimed it had captured around 1000 members of Mr Aslin’s brigade on Wednesday.
But Ukraine’s Azov regiment later released a video claiming some members of the marine unit had successfully broken out.
Mr Aslin previously travelled to Syria to fight alongside the Kurdish armed forces against the Islamic State between 2015 and 2016.
