A former soldier who was taken prisoner and held captive by Russians has declared his intention to settle back in Ukraine.
Before being released last year, Aiden Aslin, a Newark resident, was imprisoned by forces in Mariupol that were supported by Russia and given the death penalty.
He revealed on the BBC’s Ukrainecast podcast that he would be returning to Ukraine with his Ukrainian fiancée, Diana Okovyta.
He intends to begin a career in conflict journalism there.
After completing the process of leaving the Ukrainian army, Mr. Aslin, who has published a book about his time in captivity, said he and Ms. Okovyta will want to settle down.
“It’s going to be a long drive, and hopefully everything will go as planned,” he remarked.
Although there is always a chance that you could be hurt or killed in one of the airstrikes, life goes on because we have been in Ukraine for such a long time, especially for a family that is there.
In addition, Mr. Aslin discussed his month-long detention by Russian military, which ended only after protracted discussions.
He described it as “like some old Soviet sort of police thing.”
There are no mattresses, only a concrete floor, no bathroom, and you get like a tiny piece of bread every day. In addition, everyone gets a two-liter bottle of water, so you’d be lucky to get maybe a quarter of a cup.
“Therefore, it’s just the bare minimum to keep you alive, and then on top of this, you have people that will get taken out – they’ll find out something about them, and you just hear them being taken beaten,”