A volunteer fighter from the UK who battled Russian forces in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol alongside Ukrainian troops has been forced to surrender after running out of food and supplies.
Aiden Aslin, who goes by the name Johnny, said the unit he was with “had no choice” but to lay down their weapons after weeks of heavy fighting and relentless Russian attacks cut off supply lines to the area.
Mr Aslin will likely become a prisoner of war but friends have said they are hopeful he could be included in a future prisoner exchange. Such agreements between Kyiv and Moscow have been reached in recent weeks.
The 28-year-old, from Newark in Nottinghamshire, had spent time fighting against Isis in Syria with Kurdish forces before travelling to Ukraine.
A statement on his Twitter account said: “We’ve gotten word from Johnny. ‘It’s been 48 days, we tried our best to defend Mariupol but we have no choice but to surrender to Russian forces. We have no food and no ammunition. It’s been a pleasure everyone, I hope this war ends soon.’
“We’re putting this out after direct consultation with his family. Until we’re told otherwise we’ll continue working on sharing the facts of the war. Hope for a prisoner exchange.”
Mr Aslin’s Instagram page, which attracted thousands of followers and had been used to document his experience of the war, was deleted last week.
Jake Hanrahan, who describes himself as a journalist and filmmaker and friend of Mr Aslin, tweeted: “Aiden is not a ‘mercenary’ as some claim. He has been a full member of the Ukraine Marines for 5+ years now.
“He’s done all the training etc. He didn’t join recently. He lives in Ukraine and plans to stay there with his fiancé.”
A later statement on Mr Aslin’s Twitter account added: “Something very important to note: Aiden is a member of Ukraine’s military and totally legal combatant. Mercenary, a word idiots try to attach to him, has a defined legal meaning. If you see them lying in the comments we’d be grateful if you corrected them.”
The post was attached to a photo shared in 2018 showing him apparently taking an oath to defend Ukraine.
Mariupol, which has been largely destroyed by Russian air and artillery strikes, has seen some of the most intense fighting of the war.
The mayor of the port city said on Monday that more than 10,000 civilians had been killed in the Russian siege, and that the death toll could exceed 20,000.
Weeks of attacks have left the bodies "carpeted through the streets”, mayor Vadym Boychenko said.
Ukraine has said it expects Russia to begin an offensive soon in the eastern Donbas region - which includes the prized target of Mariupol - as Moscow shifts its focus to seizing territory there after its invasion force was driven from the gates of Kyiv this month.
The Ukrainian government said on Tuesday that it was checking unverified information that Russia may have used chemical weapons while attacking the city.
