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LONDON, Apr 18The family of one of the British who surrendered in Ukraine, Sean Pinner, does not consider him a mercenary, claiming that he served in the Ukrainian armed forces under a contract in accordance with the law, Sky News reported on Monday, citing a family statement. «We want to emphasize that he is not a volunteer or a mercenary, but officially serves in the Ukrainian army in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine,» the TV channel quotes excerpts from the statement. Peter's family also noted that «Sean was a respected military man in the British army and served in the Royal English Regiment on over the years.» He moved to Ukraine in 2018, his three-year contract was supposed to expire by the end of 2022. Earlier, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said that «the mercenaries who arrived in Ukraine are not combatants, the best thing that awaits them is a long term in prison.» He noted that foreign mercenaries do not have the status of «combatants» under international humanitarian law. Previously, Pinner, on air on the Rossiya 1 TV channel, said that he and Aiden Aslin had asked Prime Minister Boris Johnson to assist in their exchange for an opposition Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk.Pushilin suggested that there are mercenaries from the United States and Canada at Azovstal. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» To this end, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine» bloody crimes against civilians» of Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and, on March 25, they completed the main tasks of the first stage — they significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass. DNRV Mariupol caught another mercenary. Englishman Sean Pinner served as an attack aircraft in the 36th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He told how he was captured.