Ex-soldier's promise to fiancée over Ukraine return

A British man has promised his fiancée he will not return to being a soldier in Ukraine after being captured by Russian-backed forces.

Aiden Aslin, from Newark, Nottinghamshire, surrendered to troops in April and was sentenced to death.

In September he was released and returned to the UK after Saudi Arabia said it had brokered an exchange deal.

Mr Aslin said he would be returning to Ukraine soon but would work as a journalist instead.

He said it had been surreal to return to his family in Newark after the ordeal.

"I would say that it is good to be back but I still want to go back to my house in Mykolaiv," he said.

He and his fiancée Diana Okovyta plan to return to her home country soon.

"I promised my fiancée that I wouldn't go back to soldiering," he said.

"That was a big promise I made to her.

"I want to focus on the journalism side of stuff because I still believe there's quite a lot that people don't understand about Ukraine and there's a lot of things that don't get reported about as much as they should be."

Mr Aslin said they planned to return home to collect their belongings and then move to a new house in West Ukraine.

"I still want to go back to Ukraine because that is my home," he said.

"I've been there for four years and her [Miss Okovyta's] family is there.

"For me, I think the important part is to just get back to Ukraine and do what I can."

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(editor-in-charge：Press center 1)