After being taken prisoner by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, FIVE British POWs have been freed.
Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, who were released after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Vladimir Putin arranged their release, are among the group travelling home.
Aiden, a 28-year-old man from Nottinghamshire, was apprehended in April as he was engaged in a bloody battle for Mariupol on behalf of the Ukrainian military.
Former Shaun Pinner, 46, who was captured alongside Aiden as they were made to submit to Russian forces, was also set free.
Angela, his ecstatic mother, exclaimed that she was “very emotional and over the moon” at the news.
The two men were found guilty of being mercenaries by the Russians, who then executed them by firing squad following a fake trial in a separatist pro-Moscow part of Ukraine.
In cruel propaganda stunts, both were displayed on Russian television. Upsetting video showed Aiden even being forced to sing the nation’s anthem.
Both, according to Ukraine, are entitled to protection under the Geneva Convention because they are nationals of the nation and are enlisted in the armed services on a regular basis.
Prime Minister Liz Truss hailed the “hugely welcome news that five British nationals held by Russian-backed proxies in eastern Ukraine are being safely returned”
She said it ended “months of uncertainty and suffering for them and their families”.
“This brings to an end many months of uncertainty and suffering, including the threat of the death penalty, for them and their families, at the hands of Russia,” he said.
