The Ukrainian army has recently established a new battalion consisting of Russian volunteer fighters.
Unlike other volunteer units operating under the Ukrainian International Legion, the new battalion is officially part of the Ukrainian Army. Russian troops are supposed to join the fighting alongside the Ukrainians very soon.
American media company According to Bloomberg the new Sibir battalion currently has around 60 soldiers.
According to the Ukrainian leaders of the corps, almost all the soldiers have arrived directly from Russia because they want to fight the president who started the war of aggression in Ukraine Vladimir Putin against the reign of terror. According to them, Russian prisoners of war are not recruited into the troops.
– It’s nice to work with them. They are responsible and train well, the Ukrainian trainer of the Russian forces Batya says to Bloomberg.
Recruiting Russians is slow, as background checks for volunteers arriving from Russia can take up to a year. Ukraine is currently working to make it easier for Russian volunteer fighters to join.
Minorities oppressed by Russia joined the resistance
Ukrainian officials expect that making it easier to join the army will lead to the registration of more and more Russian volunteer fighters, especially from minorities oppressed by the Putin regime, reports Bloomberg.
The volunteers are mainly Yakuts and Buryats living in the eastern parts of Siberia, who hope that defeating Russia will help their people’s efforts to become independent from Russia, reports the news agency Reuters.
In Russia’s partial promotion of the movement, a disproportionate number of people representing ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples from remote areas like Buryatia have been forced onto the Ukrainian front.
– Since the tsarist era, Russia has occupied our lands, destroyed our culture, language and traditions. It was pure Russification, a 29-year-old soldier from Buryatia Gennady tells Reuters.
– We must destroy the Kremlin regime, A thief– the 29-year-old Yakutian who uses the call sign tells Bloomberg.
Vargan says he had no military training at all before arriving from Irkutsk, Russia. Vargan comes from the Yakutia region known for its diamond mines.
– I want Yakutia to become an independent democratic state. We have a lot of riches, but despite that our people are very poor. Only the state authorities are doing well, Vargan states.
“The prison must be destroyed”
Among the soldiers representing the indigenous peoples of Siberia are also residents of ordinary Russian cities. One of them is a 41-year-old man from Moscow who has chosen to use a call sign in the Ukrainian army Gandhi.
Gandhi tells Reuters that he left Russia shortly after the war of aggression began in February last year. He says that he arrived in Ukraine via Poland to fight against the regime in his home country.
– I felt that, as a Russian, I myself am responsible for what happened.
– I don’t want to be complicit in the crimes committed by my country in Russia – and what’s even worse, massive crimes outside the country. They are killing thousands of Ukrainians and they don’t care if they are women, children or old people. They are repeatedly torturing and bombing civilians and I don’t want to be a part of that. I want to oppose it directly.
According to Gandhi, his parents and other family members still support Putin.
– I know that I might die in my first battle, but for me, the thought of being a part of the evil coming from my country is much scarier.
Gandhi says that he supports the independence efforts of Russia’s ethnic minorities.
– I believe this is exactly the way we can bring the empire down. The prison must be destroyed, Gandhi states.
In his speech, Gandhi refers to the view shared by the country’s ethnic minorities that Russia has held several independent nations captive for centuries.
Like Gandhi, a 29-year-old has arrived from Moscow to Ukraine Martin. He previously worked in Moscow in the IT sector. Also according to him, Russia must break up so that people living in different parts of the country could decide their own affairs in the future.
Russia increases pressure in the East
Ukraine announced the creation of a new Russian battalion last week. At the same time, Russia has intensified attacks near the city of Avdijivka in the Donetsk region.
According to Ukraine, Russian attacks have mostly failed. Although Russia has probably paid a heavy price for its attacks, the country’s forces are, among other things, the think tank of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) during the last few days managed to advance in the area.
Russia is believed to be seeking to blockade Avdijivka in the east and drive the Ukrainians defending the city away from the nearby large city of Donetsk.
Russia also hopes that the attack will force Ukraine to move its troops stationed on other fronts to the Donetsk region. In recent weeks, Ukraine has become more active, especially on the southern bank of the Dnieper River in the Kherson region.