Among more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines from the 36th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who surrendered to the military of the Russian Federation and the DPR in Mariupol, two turned out to be British subjects.

According to a source in law enforcement agencies, one of them, 28-year-old Aiden Daniel John Mack Eslin, was captured on the night of April 12-13.

In the military unit, he served as the commander of a mortar battery.

The second Briton, 48-year-old Sean Pinner, was detained and captured on the morning of April 12 while trying to break through the encirclement of the military group.

“The servicemen have been withdrawn from the territory of the MMK im.

Ilyich" and the command post of "Azovmash" are temporarily located on the territory of the nearby women's correctional colony of Mariupol, as well as in the premises of the former vegetable warehouse.

The events were preceded by negotiations throughout the day through captured radio stations, as well as assistance from previously captured military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, ”added the interlocutor of RT.

Two arrests

According to media reports, Aiden Eslin, also known as Cossack Gundy and Johnny, is a former social worker from Newark, Nottinghamshire.

The Briton said in an interview with the Reaper Feed portal that he twice went to fight with the Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG) in northern Syria: in 2015 he left for nine months, and at the end of 2016 for eight.

Both times, after returning to the UK, Eslin was arrested on suspicion of planning terrorist attacks, but he was released on bail.

As Eslin told VGTRK correspondent Andrei Rudenko after the capture, recruitment to Syria took place via the Internet.

Upon arrival in one of the countries bordering Syria, he was met by a certain US citizen Alexander Tobius, who sent him to the YPG.

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While in Syria, he met a man who fought for the Ukrainians in the Donbass, Eslin recalled in an interview with Reaper Feed.

Since it was difficult for the Briton to get a job after returning due to being in a “gray” zone in terms of the law after the Syrian trips, he decided to go to Ukraine: “That was my main reason to leave.

I had to sign a three-year contract with the Ukrainian military, and after the service it would be easier for me to get settled when I returned to my homeland. 

He also added that he had not been to the UK since he moved to Ukraine in 2018, but he was sure that if he returned now, "the police would definitely want to talk" to him.

The contract was supposed to end in September 2022, after which Eslin planned to either become a war journalist or extend the contract for a year, after which he would try his luck in journalism again.

However, Eslin's younger brother, Nathan Wood, told the Daily Mail that his brother should not be called a mercenary because he "enlisted in the Ukrainian army four years ago and has dual citizenship."

In addition, according to the media, Eslin left because he fell in love with a woman from Nikolaev: the couple was supposed to get married this spring, but the British bride fled to Hungary.

“The last time I saw her was in January,” Eslin was quoted as saying by the publication.

"A month ate a mess"

Arriving at a training camp in Ukraine, Eslin, according to him, spent the first seven months getting used to the Ukrainian military system and learning the language: “The biggest problem for me was orders and understanding them.”

He called the language barrier the main difficulty: “I understand a lot, but it’s hard to pronounce the words.”

He called his first experience with the food fed to Ukrainian servicemen a “revelation”: for the first month he ate “a mess that he wouldn’t even give to his dog.”

Eslin contacted the family on the eve of the surrender of the Marines from the 36th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, his younger brother Nathan Wood said: “Aiden called me at three in the morning and said that they had to lay down their weapons due to lack of food and ammunition.

It was a very short call, as we were interrupted, but I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was unhappy.”

According to war correspondent Oleksandr Sladkov, who witnessed the most massive capture of Ukrainian soldiers since the beginning of the special operation, Eslin's neighbors in the line tried to divert the attention of journalists from the Englishman.

“I took a picture of him, although I didn’t know then that he was a foreigner.

To his left, a boorish machine gunner stood in the line, we talked to him, then another marine spoke to me, to the right of Eslin.

And he himself was silent all the time, ”the correspondent shared with RT.

After the surrender, a video of Eslin's interrogation appeared on social networks, where, when asked if he killed people, he replies: “I don’t know, I didn’t participate in the battle.”

However, Andrei Rudenko, who interviewed him, said that there was an impressive callus on the Briton's index finger, which indicates that he constantly pressed the trigger with it.

"Death was part of my life"

According to Eslin, there were many foreign soldiers like him in Mariupol: only in his unit there are six foreigners from Britain, Morocco, continental Europe, there are also foreign officers inside the Azovstal plant, correspondent Andrei Rudenko retells the answers of the British.

The British media, in turn, report on "at least ten British citizens" who left to fight in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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Together with Aiden Eslin, another Briton was captured - Sean Pinner, a native of Bedfordshire.

It is known about him that he previously served in the Royal Anglian Regiment and that he has eight trips to hot spots.

“This is my ninth military tour,” Pinner was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

“Death has been a part of my life for a very long time.

It's very hard to go through every day thinking you're going to get killed or hurt."

In Donbass, he served on a contract basis in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

At the same time, the Briton emphasizes that he is “not just another military drug addict [addicted to military operations]”: “I succeeded better than most Ukrainians.

I am the first Westerner to have completed all aspects of parachute training as a Ukrainian soldier.”

Pinner is married to a Ukrainian woman and, apparently, is on friendly terms with Aiden Eslin: they have many joint photos on social networks, as well as identical tattoos on their forearms.

Note that earlier British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the British, who decide to go to fight in Ukraine, could break the law.

They could be prosecuted under British terrorism laws, which included Aiden Eslin being arrested twice after returning from Syria.

Earlier, RT said that after the start of the special operation, Kyiv began to actively recruit foreigners who wanted to fight on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

At the same time, many of those who agreed to fight in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not even have time to get to the front line.

So, as noted by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, on March 13, the RF Armed Forces attacked the training centers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the village of Starichi and at the Yavoriv training ground (Lviv region).

As a result, up to 180 foreign mercenaries were destroyed. 

On March 20, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported on the destruction of 100 foreign mercenaries in the Zhytomyr region after being hit by high-precision air-launched missiles. 

On April 15, the department announced the elimination of 30 mercenaries of the Polish PMC near Kharkov. 

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry warned that mercenaries fighting on the side of the Kiev regime are not combatants.

“I want to officially emphasize that all mercenaries sent by the West to help the Kiev nationalist regime are not combatants under international humanitarian law.

They are not entitled to prisoner of war status.

The best thing that awaits foreign mercenaries upon arrest is criminal prosecution, ”said Igor Konashenkov.