A British prisoner has appeared back on the frontline after being forced to live in a tiny cell by Russian officials over 16-months-ago.
Aiden Aslin has returned to helping Ukraine after being beaten, stabbed and forced to listen to Soviet songs in jail for 24 hours a day.
After a last-minute deal with Saudi Arabia, he was released from prison in September 2022.
Along with nine other foreign fighters, he was set free.
A British prisoner has appeared back on the frontline after being forced to live in a tiny cell by Russian officials over 16-months-ago
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The 30-year-old posted a video from Avdivvk to announce his return to the war this week.
He said: "We visited Avdivvka today to deliver crucial medical supplies for the civilians that are surviving in the city or what’s left of it.
“Like many other cities such as Bakhmut and Mariupol, Avdivvka is just another city destroyed by Russia. Russians say it’s green screen.”
Nottingham born Aiden was captured by the Russians in April 2022, while fighting as a Ukrainian Marine in Mariupol.
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His regiment were cornered after they ran out of food and ammunition so were forced to surrender.
The prisoner was sentenced to death and became the face of propaganda footage used by Russian-backed forces.
Pro-war channel Bloknot Russia 18+ wrote online: "While in captivity, Aslin asked for forgiveness from the people of Donbas and Russia for serving in the Ukrainian troops.
"It turns out that he did not draw any conclusions for himself."
Talking about his experience, the Briton says he taken to a detention centre with a hood over his head before being beaten repeatedly with a nightstick during a lengthy interrogation.
The prisoner was sentenced to death and became the face of propaganda footage used by Russian-backed forces
Reuters"They flicked through my passport and quickly realised it wasn’t Ukrainian," he told The Sun.
"The officer was smoking a cigarette and knelt down in front of me to ask, ‘Do you know who I am?’ I said ‘no’ and he replied in Russian, ‘I am your death’.
"He said, ‘Did you see what I did to you?’. He pointed to my back. He showed me his knife and I realised he’d stabbed me.
“He then asked me, ‘Do you want a quick death or a beautiful death?’.
"I replied in Russian, ‘A quick death’. He smiled and said ‘No, you’re going to have a beautiful death . . . and I’m going to make sure it’s a beautiful death.”
James Rushton, a British independent security analyst based in Kyiv, claimed those released were part of a high level prisoner swap.
