Aisha Nozari
A British soldier fighting alongside Ukraine’s marines has said his unit has ‘no choice but to surrender’ to Russians after ‘running out of food and ammunition’.
Aiden Aslin, 28, shared the news via a Twitter contact, saying forces had spent ‘48 days trying their best to defend Mariupol’.
The former care worker from Nottinghamshire - who moved to Ukraine in 2018 after falling in love with a woman from Mykolaiv - also called for an end to the war.
In a statement shared on Twitter, Aslin said: “It's been 48 days, we tried our best to defend Mariupol but we have no choice but to surrender to Russian forces.
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“We have no food and no ammunition. It's been a pleasure everyone, I hope this war ends soon.”
According to the MailOnline, the post continued: “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.”
Aslin, who has fought for Ukraine's armed forces for four years, was due to get married in spring and will have completed his service come September.
Aslin was stationed in the Donbass region when Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
10,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed in Mariupol so far and Vadym Boychenko, mayor of the port city, said bodies are ‘carpeted through the streets'.
In a statement, Boychenko said he feared the death toll in his city could surpass 20,000 and accused Russian forces of blocking humanitarian aid into Mariupol.
The mayor also said allegations had been passed to Ukrainian officials that Russian invaders have brought ‘cremation equipment’ into the city to get rid of bodies.
Attributing the claims to several sources he refused to name, Boychenko said: “Mobile crematoriums have arrived in the form of trucks: You open it, and there is a pipe inside and these bodies are burned.”
On Monday, western authorities were working to verify claims Russian forces had used chemical weapons on Mariupol’s civilians.
In a post on Twitter on Monday, 11 April, Ukrainian MP Ivanna Klympush shared news of the 'unknown substance' in Mariupol, claiming victims were experiencing 'respiratory failure' and adding: "Most likely [chemical] weapons!"
The news prompted both the US and the UK to investigate and UK foreign secretary Liz Truss confirmed officials were working to verify details.
"Reports that Russian forces may have used chemical agents in an attack on the people of Mariupol. We are working urgently with partners to verify details. Any use of such weapons would be a callous escalation in this conflict and we will hold Putin and his regime to account," she wrote.
If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information.