Interview With Aiden Aslin British Mercenary

originally posted by: dragonridr

originally posted by: lasvegasteddy
he's a captured mercenary...not a POW
so not sure how any of the Geneva convention applys

Is he though? He joined the Ukrainian military was assigned to a unit for 2 years. He even applied to e a Ukrainian citizen doesnt sound like a merc to me. Seems like Russia is just doing the same as they claimed in mariopal they effectively gave no quarter and wonder why they didn't surrender.

there are some grey lines

mer·​ce·​nary | ˈmər-sə-ˌner-ē , -ne-rē
plural mercenaries
Definition of mercenary (Entry 1 of 2)
: one that serves merely for wages
especially : a soldier hired into foreign service

did he join the ukrainian military or was he a foreigner under a contract with them
citizenship after the fact he travelled to a foreign land to contract with it's military to fight in a conflict for wages

to me...IMHO
he is one....he travelled to a foreign land to engage in conflict for money under a contract
it's not that he visited or immigrated with hopes of future citizenship and then by chance a conflict broke out
he got there in 2018 with sole intent of fighting under contract
the civil war began long before 2022 and shortly after the coup of 2014

the only reason he entered ukraine was to fight under a contract

a reply to: lasvegasteddy

He applied for citizenship is marrying a Ukrainian he served in their armed forces for years id say he is vested in Ukraine. Mercs dont enlist into the military they are privately contracted and work for a company not a govt.

originally posted by: dragonridr
a reply to: lasvegasteddy

He applied for citizenship is marrying a Ukrainian he served in their armed forces for years id say he is vested in Ukraine. Mercs dont enlist into the military they are privately contracted and work for a company not a govt.

is or was to...marry a ukrainian ?
was his service direct or under a foreigners contract
as i seem to recall they were inviting foreigners under contract with

surely there are private contractors as well as private contractors under govt contract
this guy just left another conflict in another foreign land doing the same...as a professional soldier

there are some grey lines surely here

just recently ukraine established a french foreign legion type of deal
he was there before that
he went there under contract to fight under that declared "war on terror" campaign to eliminate the separatist

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: Kester

If you want to post Russian Propoganda, at least get your thread title correct. Aiden Aslin is a Ukranian Marine, and has been since 2018. Mercenary he is not.

So, you have an incomplete definition of merc...

Or the term was loosely used over centuries INCLUDED foreign soldiers, who had previously served in different militaries..

Idk which ... Depends on the definition source

originally posted by: alldaylong

originally posted by: Grimpachi
a reply to: alldaylong

If you want to yell propaganda you should at least watch the video first

I don't watch Putin's propoganda.

Thanks anyway.

Your propaganda has to be of a specific flavor then

Nice to know.. why think outside of a box, when it's easier to grab a sharpie and trace the edges...

a reply to: Freeborn

He did not have Ukrainian citizenship even he admits that he was in the process. He was also in syria fighting with YPG...did he have a wife there too? He may not have been paid for his service but he sure wasn't in their actual military as he wasn't a citizen.

a reply to: dragonridr

He applied for citizenship is marrying a Ukrainian

He did that after joining as a merc

He didn't have a sweety then applied for citizenship and then got all patriotic.

I find the interviewer very annoying and is constantly leading the conversation, rather than asking a question and letting the guy answer. I noted he even corrects him to say Lugansk when the prisoner says Luhansk (at 06:25) which was not really necessary. The interviewer is also pretty much putting words in his mouth and 'telling the story with added facts' to which the guy is just agreeing most of the time.

As much as I do believe there are many atrocities being committed by the Ukranian side, especially the Azov Batallion (the vid of the captured Russian soldiers being shot in the knees, chest and groin whilst bound was an outrage), this interview is not believable purely because of the interviewer.

He asked to desert the moment the fighting started. So not exactly a war hero. Just a guy caught up in something he didn't really want a part of (but he had enlisted, so really should have stuck it out.)

The stuff he knows about Ukrainian military mistreating prisoners comes from videos he has seen (IE. information available to anyone.)

Everything else is just opinions. He thinks Ukraine should accept Donbass's declarations of independence.

The only direct knowledge he *might* have had of the things he is saying is he *might* have been able to actually see what targets the artillery was choosing when it shelled Donbass. Maybe.