Ukrainian volunteer battalions
Ukrainian volunteer battalions (
Most of the battalions initially didn't receive money from the government and were self-funded; some were backed by Ukrainian oligarchs[5] while others received donations or started internet crowdfunding campaigns.[6][7][8]
As of September 2014, 37 volunteer battalions had taken an active part in the battles of the
Volunteer formations
Ministry of Defence
Since spring 2014,
Besides territorial defence battalions, several regular units of
Ministry of Internal Affairs
According to Interior Minister Avakov, by mid-April 2016 205 service personnel of the ministry's volunteer battalions had been killed in action, National Guardsmen included.[15]
Special Tasks Patrol Police
Notable Units formed between 2014 and 2015 include:
- Dnipro-1 Regiment
- Kharkiv Police Battalion
- Poltava Battalion
- Sich Battalion
- Svyatyi Mykolai Battalion
National Guard of Ukraine
The National Guard of Ukraine, subordinated to Ministry of Internal Affairs, had established several reserve battalions, among which were Donbas Battalion and General Kulchytskiy Battalion formed from volunteers and Maidan activists.[17]
Notable Units formed between 2014 and 2015 include:
- Azov Battalion
- Donbas Battalion
Independent battalions
The following battalions were not controlled by either the Ministry of Internal Affairs nor the Ministry of Defense, but independently operate.
Ukrainian Volunteer Corps
Right Sector had formed several battalions that are known as Ukrainian Volunteer Corps.[18] In spring 2015 there were attempts to integrate Ukrainian Volunteer Corps into the Ukrainian Army or National Guard.[3]
Battalion OUN
Battalion of "
Aerorozvidka
A unit specialized in aerial reconnaissance and drone warfare.[21] Aerorozvidka was nicknamed a "war startup" by some observers,[22] it began as a group of volunteer drone and IT enthusiasts. It used commercial drones to help the Ukrainian military forces.[22] It was later integrated into the Ukrainian Ground Forces.
Noman Çelebicihan Battalion
The Noman Çelebicihan Battalion was one of the three reported battalions with majority Muslim membership.[23] It was composed mostly of ethnic Crimean Tatars and was based in the Kherson region bordering Crimea.[24] It did not participate in any combat operations. The battalion was formed and disbanded in 2016. Many of its members later joined other volunteer battalions or enlisted in the Ukrainian army. The battalion reportedly received assistance from Turkey.[25]
Foreign fighters
The foreign fighter movement in 2014 was largely short-lived, with researcher Kacper Rekawek writing, "fighters arrived throughout the summer of 2014, and most of them were gone from Ukraine at some point in 2015, although some returned later, with a small group settling in Ukraine permanently."[26] By the end of 2015, Rekawek notes, "both sides took steps to professionalise their forces and incorporate the bottom-up organised volunteer battalions into e.g. the Ukrainian National Guard or, in the case of the 'separatists,' into the 'army corps.' This effectively meant an end to foreign fighter recruitment for this conflict and very few (new) foreigners joined either side after the end of 2015."[26]
On 6 October 2014 the
An analysis of foreign fighters by Arkadiusz Legieć, a Senior Analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, estimated that about 17,241 foreign fighters fought in Ukraine between 2014 and 2019. 3,879 of those foreign fighters supported Ukraine and joined foreign volunteer battalions. The largest group of foreign fighters in Ukraine was approximately 3,000
Georgian National Legion
The Georgian National Legion is a paramilitary unit formed of more than 700 soldiers, mostly ethnic
Dzhokhar Dudayev battalion
The
Sheikh Mansur Battalion
The
Separate Special-Purpose Battalion
The
Similar later formations
Tactical Group "Belarus"
Tactical Group "Belarus" is a volunteer group of Belarusian nationals who were part of the Ukrainian volunteer battalions.
Territorial Defense Forces
In 2022, the former
International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine
Following the
Freedom of Russia Legion
Freedom of Russia Legion was formed following the 2022 invasion, which made up of
References
- ^ Ilmari Käihkö, "The War Between People in Ukraine" Archived 27 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine, The War on the Rocks, 21 March 2018
- ^ Gazeta.ua (7 February 2014). ""Армію" самооборони Майдану збільшать до 30-40 тисяч - Парубій". Gazeta.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 18 April 2022.
- ^ a b Pike, John. "Ukrainian Military Personnel". www.globalsecurity.org. Archived from the original on 27 December 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
- ^ a b "Volunteer battalions in eastern Ukraine: who are they? | UACRISIS.ORG". Ukraine crisis media center. 16 March 2015. Archived from the original on 18 December 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
- ^ a b Margarete Klein. Ukraine’s volunteer battalions – advantages and challenges Archived 11 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine Swedish Defence Research Agency Report, RUFS Briefing No. 27, April 2015
- ^ Weiss, Michael. "Crowdfunding the War in Ukraine -- From Manhattan". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
- ^ "Help Donbas Battalion". People’s Project.com. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
- ^ Morgan, Jared (13 November 2015). "Top-10 crowdfunded projects that volunteers gave the Ukrainian militia". Euromaidan Press. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
- ^ "Они воюют за Украину: список батальонов, которые принимают участие в АТО". Слово и Дело (in Russian). Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
- )
- ISSN 1470-2436.
- ^ a b "Heroes or Villains? Volunteer Battalions in Post-Maidan Ukraine" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 January 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
- ^ "Структура військ територіальної оборони Збройних Сил України". www.ukrmilitary.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- ^ a b c Ponomarenko, Illia (7 January 2022). "Who can and can't join Ukraine's Territorial Defense Force". The Kyiv Independent. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- UNIAN. 18 April 2016. Archivedfrom the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- ^ ""Нацполіція і Нацгвардія мають бути, як ви – бійці добробатів", – Арсен Аваков (ФОТО, ВІДЕО)". МВС. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- ^ "National Guard volunteer battalions. "Donbass" – the path of formation | НГУ". ngu.gov.ua. Archived from the original on 8 February 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
- ^ "Right Sector leader proposes setting up 'Ukrainian Volunteer Corps' | KyivPost". KyivPost. 14 May 2015. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
- ^ "Ukrainian army command orders OUN volunteer battalion to leave Pisky, Donetsk region". KyivPost. 10 April 2015. Archived from the original on 11 April 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
- ^ a b "Volunteer Battalions Hand in Their Weapons in Eastern Ukraine". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 13 September 2019. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
- ^ a b Ukraine’s Drone Warriors. Patrick Tucker (2015). atlanticcouncil.org
- New York Times. 7 July 2015.
- ^ "First pictures of the Batallion n.a. Noman Çelebicihan posted". QHA. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ^ "Crimean Tatar battalion got help from the Crimean Tatar diaspora of Turkey". QHA. Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ^ a b Rekawek, Kacper (18 March 2022). "Ukraine's Foreign Legion: 12 important points". University of Oslo. Center for Research on Extremism. Archived from the original on 18 March 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
- ^ Goncharova, Olena (18 October 2015). "Foreign fighters struggle for legal status in Ukraine". Kyiv Post. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
- ^ "WHITE SUPREMACY EXTREMISM: The Transnational Rise of the Violent White Supremacist Movement" (PDF). The Soufan Center. September 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ^ Mamon, Marcin (27 February 2015). "The Final Days of a Chechen Commander Fighting in Ukraine". The Intercept. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
- ^ Oleg Sukhov. Russia’s war against Ukraine renews Chechen animosities. Kyiv Post. 27 March 2015.
- ^ Chechen fighter transfers struggle against Kremlin to Ukraine Archived 19 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Chechen fighter transfers struggle against Kremlin to Ukraine, Kyiv Post (27 May 2014)
- ^ a b Alexander Query; Francis Farrell (25 November 2022). "Meet the Chechens fighting Russia in Ukraine". Kyivindependent. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
- ^ Ghaedi, Monir (24 March 2022). "Chechen and Tatar Muslims take up arms to fight for Ukraine". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
- Ukraine Today. 18 May 2015.
- ^ "Opinion | Ukraine has a duty to remove North Caucasian volunteer fighters from the sanctions list".
- ^ ""Чеченцы – это люди, которые за нас". Представитель президента Украины – о добровольцах и экстрадициях".
- ^ "Foreign Fighters: Taking the Fight to Russia in Ukraine". Balkan Insight. 22 March 2022. Archived from the original on 22 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- ^ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Chechen and Tatar Muslims take up arms to fight for Ukraine | DW | 24.03.2022". DW.COM. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
- ^ "'We have only one enemy — this is Russia': the Chechens taking up arms for Ukraine". OC Media. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
- ^ "Окупанти показали відео з "кадирівцями" в Бахмуті. Насправді на кадрах — чеченські добровольці ЗСУ (ВІДЕО, ФОТО)". Вільне Радіо. December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
- ^ "Reconnaissance of the Chechen battalion named after Sheikh Mansur. Soledar. Bakhmut region". (video). Retrieved 8 December 2022.
- ^ "Appointment of the OBON Armed Forces of the CRI in Ukraine". The Chechen Press. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
- ^ "Press conference in Kiyv". The Chechen Press. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
Sources
- Rosaria Puglisi, Heroes or Villains? Volunteer Battalions in Post-Maidan Ukraine // Istituto Affari Internazionali, March 2015
- Margaret Klein, Briefing No. 27 .pdf Ukraine’s volunteer battalions – advantages and challenge // Swedish Defence Research Agency, April 2015
- Ilmari Käihkö, A nation-in-the-making, in arms: control of force, strategy and the Ukrainian Volunteer Battalions, Defence Studies, Volume 18 Issue 2, 2018, pp. 147–166.
- Ilmari Käihkö, The War Between People in Ukraine, The War on the Rocks, 21 March 2018