Three foreign mercenaries – two British nationals and a Moroccan – said to have fought for Ukraine in the Russia-Ukraine war were sentenced to death on Thursday by a court in the self-proclaimed independent enclave of Donetsk.

Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and Moroccan Saladin Brahim took part in “hostilities on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces in the capacity of mercenaries,” according to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.

They pleaded guilty to all charges, the report said.

All three plan to appeal the verdict, it added.

Donetsk and Luhansk – both part of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, bordering Russia – were the scene of a Russian-backed insurgency starting in 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

On the eve of Russia starting the Ukraine war this Feb. 24, President Vladimir Putin recognized the “independence” of Donetsk and Luhansk.

As with Crimea, all of Donbas is still internationally recognized as Ukrainian territory, and the country’s armed forces continue to fight for it./aa