Two more Brits captured in Ukraine facing DEATH PENALTY as disgraceful Russia to put them on trial as ‘mercenaries’

ANOTHER two Brits who were captured in Ukraine are facing the death penalty as Russia is set to put them on trial as 'mercenaries'.

Cambridgeshire aid worker Dylan Healy, 22, and military volunteer Andrew Hill have been charged with carrying out "mercenary activities", officials in the Moscow-backed Donetsk People's Republic said, according to state media.

It comes as a video shown on Russian television in April, showed Andrew, a dad of four-from Plymouth stating his name while he appeared wounded with a head bandage and his left arm in a sling. 

According to local media, both men refused to cooperate with the investigators.

The Foreign Office said it condemns the exploitation of prisoners of war and civilians for political purposes.

It comes after Brit fighters Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were sentenced to death after being accused of being mercenaries.

Aslin and Pinner who fought in Ukraine, were captured after being forced to surrender in the city of Mariupol.

Aslin was pictured in late April, handcuffed, beaten and bruised, while a video of Pinner was posted on Twitter, in which he explains who he is while looking exhausted.

They were both charged with "training in order to carry out terrorist activities".

They received the death penalty after they "pleaded guilty"  in a pro-Russian court in Donetsk.

A pro-Kremlin website said Mr Healy and Mr Hill would face the same mercenary charges as Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, two British military volunteers captured in Mariupol who have been condemned to death in Donetsk.

It is understood the FCDO is actively investigating and is providing support to the men's families.

An FCDO spokesperson said: "We condemn the exploitation of prisoners of war and civilians for political purposes and have raised this with Russia.

"We are in constant contact with the government of Ukraine on their cases and are fully supportive of Ukraine in its efforts to get them released."

Responding to the reports about Mr Healy and Mr Hill, Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK's crisis response manager, said:

"As with Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Saaudun Brahim, this is a sham process designed to exert diplomatic pressure on the UK, not least as it comes shortly after Britain announced a large shipment of weapons for Ukraine.

"Under the Geneva Conventions, captured combatants and other protected persons should be humanely treated at all times.

"In exploiting their capture of Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill like this, Russia and its proxies in the Donetsk People's Republic are already adding to a huge catalogue of war crimes they're committing in this war.

"The chances of Healy and Hill receiving a fair trial in either the Donetsk People's Republic or in Russia itself are vanishingly small.

"Unless the authorities present clear evidence that Healy and Hill are implicated in war crimes, this sham judicial process should be halted immediately."