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A British man sentenced to death by a Russian proxy court for fighting in Ukraine has been told the execution will be carried out, his family say.

Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were sentenced by a court which is not internationally recognised, in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).

Mr Aslin told his family his captors said there had been no attempt by UK officials to negotiate on his behalf.

The foreign secretary discussed his case with Ukraine earlier in June.

Liz Truss said she and her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba had spoken about "efforts to secure the release of prisoners of war held by Russian proxies" and has called the death sentences a "sham judgement with absolutely no legitimacy".

The Foreign Office is known to be actively investigating cases of British nationals who have been detained in Ukraine, and is providing support to the families of Mr Aslin and Mr Pinner.

Mr Aslin's family said they had spoken to him in a phone call in which he said he had been told "time is running out" by his captors.

"There are no words, just no words, it's got to be everyone's worst nightmare to have a member of your family threatened in this way", Mr Aslin's grandmother Pamela Hall told the BBC.

"Aiden was extremely upset when he called his mother this morning. The bottom line is Aiden has said the DPR has told him nobody from the UK has made contact, and that he will be executed."

"I have to believe what Aiden has said to us, that if the DPR don't get some response then they will execute him. Obviously I hope that isn't true."

Mr Aslin and Mr Pinner moved to Ukraine in 2018, and had served as part of Ukraine's armed forces for several years before the Russian invasion.

Both had Ukrainian partners and had made the country their home. They were captured after spending weeks defending the besieged city of Mariupol.

But the Russian-proxy court called them "mercenaries", accusing them of being sent to fighting in a foreign conflict for money.

They were charged with crimes including the violent seizure of power, and undergoing training to carry out terrorist activities, according to Russian news outlets RIA Novosti.

Earlier this month Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky told British students that what Russia was doing to the British pair was a "tragic habit" and said "there cannot be any justifications for such actions".

He said it was "a very powerful and dangerous signal" to other countries that Russia was "acting this way towards citizens of any country".

The UK government has said they should be treated as prisoners of war under the laws laid out in the Geneva Conventions.

"I have cried buckets over this, but crying doesn't help, I want do so something but I don't know what to do.

Ms Hall said: "After Aiden's call this morning what am I supposed to think? I don't want to lose heart but it's very hard."

"I can't help but think that contact should be made between the UK and Russia."

But UK government sources indicate that ministers are currently unwilling to negotiate with Russia directly because it may risk fuelling a false Russian narrative that the men are mercenaries.

Mr Aslin had shortly been due to marry his Ukrainian fiancée, who has come to the UK since his capture.

"He would have been married by now, it's something that I would have dearly loved. I want him to be married and have the life that he wanted," his grandmother said.

"I know that Boris Johnson has been over to Kyiv and spoken again to President Zelensky and I am hoping they spoke about these guys."

In recent weeks Mr Aslin and Mr Pinner have been mocked by presenters on pro-Kremlin television programmes in Russia, which have been showing videos of the men in captivity.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61900291