Putin compares himself to monarch, sends foreign fighters to death for defending Ukraine

Two British citizens and a Moroccan were sentenced to death Thursday for fighting on Ukraine's side, in a punishment handed down by the country's pro-Moscow rebels.

Two British citizens and a Moroccan were sentenced to death Thursday for fighting on Ukraine‘s side, in a punishment handed down by the country’s pro-Moscow rebels.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to liken himself to conquering monarch Peter the Great and spoke of his country’s need to “take back” territory and “defend itself” as the Kremlin’s forces continued a grinding war of attrition in eastern Ukraine.

A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in Ukraine found the three captured fighters guilty of working toward a violent overthrow of power, an offense punishable by death in the unrecognized eastern republic. They were also convicted of mercenary activities and terrorism.

Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported that the men – identified as Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Ibrahim Saadoun – will face a firing squad. They have a month to appeal.

The separatist side argued that the three fighters were “mercenaries” not entitled to the usual protections accorded prisoners of war. The men are the first foreign fighters sentenced by Ukraine’s Russian-backed separatists.

British Foreign Secretary Luz Truss condemned the sentencing as a “sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy.” Prime Minister Boris Johnson‘s spokesman Jamie Davies said that under the Geneva Conventions, POWs are entitled to immunity as combatants.

Saadoun’s father, Taher Saadoun, told the Moroccan online Arab-language newspaper Madar 21 that his son is not a mercenary and that he holds Ukrainian citizenship.

Aslin’s and Pinner’s families have contended that the two men were long-serving members of the Ukrainian military. Both are said to have lived in Ukraine since 2018.