Transworld acquires 'shocking and powerful' memoir by Ukrainian marine Aslin

Transworld has acquired a “shocking and powerful ”memoir by Ukrainian marine Aiden Aslin, who surrendered to Russian troops in April 2022 and spent six months in captivity.  

Henry Vines, editorial director, acquired world rights to Putin’s Prisoner from agent Humfrey Hunter. The book will be written with John Sweeney, author of Killer in the Kremlin (Bantam Press), and will publish in hardback in July 2023.  

The synopsis says: “British-born Aslin joined the Ukrainian marines in 2018, compelled to defend his adopted homeland from the growing threat of Russian invasion. In February 2022, as Russia mounted a full-scale offensive, he and his unit were stationed at the frontline. After a month-long siege at a Mariupol steelworks, Aslin was part of the mass surrender of over a thousand Ukrainian troops, in April 2022. Then his real ordeal began. 

“Singled out for his British passport and social media presence, Aiden was interrogated, tortured, stabbed, turned into a propaganda zombie, tried by a kangaroo court and then sentenced to death” the publisher continued. "Certain that he was going to be executed, he was eventually freed in a prisoner exchange and permitted to return home”. 

Aslin said: “I am hugely grateful for the opportunity to tell my story, and to share the experiences of an ordinary soldier fighting on the ground in the conflict that has captured the world’s attention. I want people to understand the consequences of Putin’s invasion and my personal ordeal as a prisoner of war, and I want the world to know about the atrocities I witnessed in captivity. The book will highlight the Ukrainian fighting spirit and I hope it will explain why we must all ensure a Ukrainian victory.”