BAKHMUT, Ukraine, Jun 10 (AP) \u2014 Ukraine and the West denounced a pro-Moscow court that sentenced two British citizens and a Moroccan to death for fighting for Ukraine, calling the proceedings a sham and a violation of the rules of war.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, as the Kremlin\u2019s forces continued a grinding war of attrition in the east, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday appeared to liken his actions to those of Peter the Great in the 18th century and said the country needs to \u201ctake back\u201d historic Russian lands.<\/p>\n
The court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People\u2019s Republic in Ukraine found the three fighters guilty of seeking the violent overthrow of power, an offense punishable by death in the unrecognized eastern republic. The men were also convicted of mercenary activities and terrorism.<\/p>\n
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that the defendants \u2014 identified as Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Brahim Saadoun \u2014 will face a firing squad. They have a month to appeal.<\/p>\n
The separatist side argued that the three were \u201cmercenaries\u201d not entitled to the usual protections accorded prisoners of war. They are the first foreign fighters sentenced by Ukraine\u2019s Russian-backed rebels.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko condemned the proceedings as legally invalid, saying, \u201cSuch show trials put the interests of propaganda above the law and morality.\u201d He said that all foreign citizens fighting as part of Ukraine\u2019s armed forces should be considered Ukrainian military personnel and protected as such.<\/p>\n
British Foreign Secretary Luz Truss pronounced the sentencing a \u201csham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy.\u201d Prime Minister Boris Johnson\u2019s spokesman Jamie Davies said that under the Geneva Conventions, POWs are entitled to immunity as combatants.<\/p>\n
Saadoun\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Aslin\u2019s and Pinner\u2019s families have said that the two men were long-serving members of the Ukrainian military. Both are said to have lived in Ukraine since 2018.<\/p>\n
The three men fought alongside Ukrainian troops before Pinner and Aslin surrendered to pro-Russian forces in the southern port of Mariupol in mid-April and Saadoun was captured in mid-March in the eastern city of Volnovakha.<\/p>\n
Another British fighter taken prisoner by the pro-Russian forces, Andrew Hill, is awaiting trial.<\/p>\n
The Russian military has argued that foreign mercenaries fighting on Ukraine\u2019s side are not combatants and should expect long prison terms, at best, if captured.<\/p>\n
Putin drew parallels between Peter the Great\u2019s founding of St. Petersburg and modern-day Russia\u2019s ambitions.<\/p>\n
When the czar founded the new capital, \u201cno European country recognized it as Russia. Everybody recognized it as Sweden,\u201d Putin said. He added: \u201cWhat was (Peter) doing? Taking back and reinforcing. That\u2019s what he did. And it looks like it fell on us to take back and reinforce as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Putin also appeared to leave the door open for further Russian territorial expansion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s impossible \u2014 Do you understand? \u2014 impossible to build a fence around a country like Russia. And we do not intend to build that fence,\u201d the Russian leader said.<\/p>\n
In other developments, French President Emmanuel Macron told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that France was ready to send more \u201cheavy weapons\u201d to Ukraine, according to Macron\u2019s office. French officials did not elaborate on the weaponry. The phone conversation came after Macron angered Ukrainian officials by saying world powers should not \u201chumiliate\u201d Putin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian army continued to push Russian forces back from Kharkiv, the country\u2019s second-largest city, which lies to the north of the Donbas. The transmission of Ukrainian television was restored after a TV tower was shelled.<\/p>\n
\u201cHitting television centers, destroying communication channels, leaving people isolated \u2013 this is the tactic of the occupiers that they cannot do without, for openness and honesty also are weapons against all that the Russian state does,\u201d he said late Thursday in his evening address.<\/p>\n
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BAKHMUT, Ukraine, Jun 10 (AP) \u2014 Ukraine and the West denounced a pro-Moscow court that sentenced two British citizens and a Moroccan to death for fighting for Ukraine, calling the proceedings a sham and a violation of the rules of war. Meanwhile, as the Kremlin\u2019s forces continued a grinding war of attrition in the east, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-192773","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192773\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}