Pro-Russian officials have sentenced to death two British men and a Moroccan national captured while fighting in the Ukrainian army in Mariupol, Russian state media has said. A court in Russian-controlled east Ukraine convicted Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Saaudun Brahim after a days-long process that observers have called a “show trial” on “trumped-up charges” meant to imitate war crimes trials against Russian soldiers in Kyiv. A spokesperson for the UK prime minister said Britain was “deeply concerned” by the death sentences passed down to Aslin and Pinner.
A Ukrainian commander has said that the battle in the key eastern frontline city of Sievierodonetsk is being fought house to house. Petro Kuzyk, commander of the Svoboda national guard battalion, said street fighting in the city in eastern Ukraine was taking place under heavy Russian artillery barrages that endangered troops on both sides. Earlier, the mayor of Sievierodonetsk, Oleksandr Stryuk, had described the situation as “difficult but manageable”.
