Ukrainian volunteer battalions

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11th territorial defence battalion "Kyivan Rus" fighter, 2014

Ukrainian volunteer battalions (Ukrainian: Добровольчі батальйони, romanized: Dobrovolchi bataliony, more formally Добровольчі військові формування України, Dobrovolchi viiskovi formuvannia Ukrainy, 'Volunteer military formations of Ukraine', or abbreviated Добробати, Dobrobaty) mobilized as a response to the perceived state of weakness and unwillingness to counter rising separatism in spring 2014.[1] The earliest of these volunteer units were later formalized into military, special police and paramilitary formations in a response to Russian military intervention in Ukraine.[2][3] Most of the formations were formed by the government agencies of Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Internal Affairs; the minority are independent.

As of September 2014, 37 volunteer battalions took active part in battles of the War in Donbas.[4] Some of the battalion fighters are former Euromaidan activists, but their social background is highly diverse. They include students and military officers.[5] They enjoy a high level of support in Ukrainian society ranked second among the most respected institutions in the country. However, their close ties with Ukrainian oligarchs bring up a high risk of the volunteer formations becoming politicized or turning into private armies.[6] Ordered to leave the front lines in 2015, the volunteer battalion phenomenon was largely over within a year of its beginning.[7]

Volunteer formations[edit]

Ministry of Defence[edit]

Main article: Territorial defence battalions (Ukraine)

Since spring 2014, Ministry of Defence had formed 32 territorial defence battalions.[8] At the end of 2014, territorial defence battalions were reorganized as motorized infantry battalions.[9]

Besides territorial defence battalions, several regular units of Armed Forces of Ukraine were formed from volunteers, such as 3rd Airmobile Battalion "Phoenix" or 54th Reconnaissance Battalion "UNSO".[3] In 2015 the 46th Spetsnaz Battalion "Donbas Ukraine" was created from volunteers of Donbas Battalion who decided to switch from National Guard of Ukraine to Armed Forces.

Ministry of Internal Affairs[edit]

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.[10]

Special Tasks Patrol Police[edit]

Main article: Special Tasks Patrol Police (Ukraine)

Ministry of Internal Affairs had established 56 special tasks patrol police units sized from company to battalion.[11] After several reorganizations, this number shrunk to 33 units.[8]

Notable Units formed between 2014 and 2015 include:

National Guard of Ukraine[edit]

Main article: 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.[12]

Notable Units formed between 2014 and 2015 include:

Ukrainian Volunteer Corps[edit]

Main article: Right Sector § Ukrainian Volunteer Corps
Ukrainian Volunteer Corps, 2014

Right Sector had formed several battalions that are known as Ukrainian Volunteer Corps.[13] In spring 2015 there were attempts to integrate Ukrainian Volunteer Corps into the Ukrainian Army or National Guard.[2]

Battalion OUN[edit]

Battalion of "Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists" was operating in the area of Pisky, Donetsk.[14] The battalion was disbanded in September 2019; as one of the last units composed purely of volunteer soldiers.[15]

Noman Çelebicihan Battalion[edit]

Main article: Noman Çelebicihan Battalion

The Noman Çelebicihan Battalion was one of the three reported battalions with majority Muslim membership.[16] It was composed mostly of ethnic Crimean Tatars and was based in the Kherson region bordering Crimea.[17] 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.[18] The Noman Çelebicihan Battalion is the only reported battalion of Ukrainian Muslims fighting for Ukraine.

Foreign fighters[edit]

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."[19] 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."[19]

On 6 October 2014 the Ukrainian parliament voted to allow foreign fighters to join the Ukrainian military. That December, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised that foreign fighters who join the Ukrainian military will receive citizenship. However, the Kyiv Post reported that by October 2015, only one foreign fighter from Russia had been granted citizenship. The same month, 30 foreign fighters (from Belarus, Georgia, and Russia) rallied in Kyiv for Ukrainian citizenship.[20]

Summary of foreign fighters country origin[edit]

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 for Ukraine was approximately 3,000 Russian citizen volunteers. The second largest group consisted of approximately 300 Belarussians. The third largest group consisted of approximately 120 Georgians. The only other country to exceed 50 foreign fighters was Croatia, with approximately 60 fighters. Other countries who's nationals supported Ukraine included Albania (15), Australia (5), Austria (35), Azerbaijan (20), Belgium (1), Bosnia and Herzegovina (5), Bulgaria (6), Canada (10), Czech Republic (5), Denmark (15), Estonia (10), Finland (15), France (15), Germany (15), Greece (2), Ireland (7), Israel (15), Italy (35), Latvia (8), Lithuania (15), Moldova (15), Kosovo (4), Netherlands (3), North Macedonia (4), Norway (10), Poland (10), Portugal (1), Romania (4), Serbia (6), Slovakia (8), Sweden (25), Turkey (30), the United Kingdom (10), and the United States (15).[21]

Georgian National Legion[edit]

Main article: Georgian Legion (Ukraine)

The Georgian National Legion is a paramilitary unit formed by mostly ethnic Georgian volunteers fighting on the side of Ukraine in the War in Donbas. The unit was organized in 2014 with the declared aim "to stand up to Russian aggression". The group is commanded by Mamuka Mamulashvili, a veteran Georgian officer. There are also members of Georgian national legion that had experience from the Chechen wars.

Tactical Group "Belarus"[edit]

Main article: Tactical group "Belarus"

Tactical Group "Belarus" was a volunteer group of Belarusian nationals who were part of the Ukrainian volunteer battalions.

Dzhokhar Dudayev battalion[edit]

Main article: Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion

The Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion, originally named the "Chechen battalion", was set up in March 2014 and is one of the three reported majority Muslim battalions formed.[16] It was later named after Chechnya's first president and leader Dzhokhar Dudayev and it is based in Novomoskovsk in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.[22] As of late May 2015, the unit was in the process of being legalized as part of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry.[22] Its Ukrainian members will join the Zoloti Borota Battalion, while its foreign members are expected to join army units under a bill enabling foreign fighters to get Ukrainian citizenship.[22] Most of the members are ethnic Ukrainians, but there are also Chechens from European countries as well as from Chechnya and it also includes other Muslims like Azerbaijanis, Ingush and Tatars, as well as Georgians.[22] The battalion "views the war as part of a broader struggle against Russian imperialism and the Kadyrov regime".[23] The battalion specializes in counter-subversion.[22]

Sheikh Mansur battalion[edit]

The Sheikh Mansur battalion is one of the three reported majority Muslim battalions formed.[16] It was reported as defending the front line near Mariupol in 2015.[24] It was created by former Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion members.[22] The battalion was disbanded in September 2019; as one of the last units composed purely of volunteer soldiers.[15]

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Armed Forces Twitter account posted a video claiming to show members of the Sheik Mansur battalion engaged in fighting against Russian forces near Bucha and Hostomel, Kyiv.[25]

International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine[edit]

Main article: International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine

Following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by forces of the Russian Federation, Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged foreign volunteers to travel to Ukrainian embassies across the world to be able to join a new 'International Brigade' of the Ukrainian armed forces.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Ilmari Käihkö, "The War Between People in Ukraine", The War on the Rocks, 21 March 2018
  2. ^ a b Pike, John. "Ukrainian Military Personnel". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Volunteer battalions in eastern Ukraine: who are they? | UACRISIS.ORG". Ukraine crisis media center. 16 March 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  4. ^ "Они воюют за Украину: список батальонов, которые принимают участие в АТО". Слово и Дело (in Russian). Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  5. ^ Albuquerque, Adriana (2015). "Volunteer Battalions". Ukraine. A Defence Sector Reform Assessment. Proceedings of the ... Swedish American Workshop on Modeling and Simulation : Sawmas. p. 22. ISSN 1650-1942.
  6. ^ Margarete Klein. Ukraine’s volunteer battalions – advantages and challenges Swedish Defence Research Agency Report, RUFS Briefing No. 27, April 2015
  7. ^ Käihkö, Ilmari (3 April 2018). "A nation-in-the-making, in arms: control of force, strategy and the Ukrainian Volunteer Battalions". Defence Studies. 18 (2): 147–166. doi:10.1080/14702436.2018.1461013. ISSN 1470-2436.
  8. ^ a b "Heroes or Villains? Volunteer Battalions in Post-Maidan Ukraine" (PDF).
  9. ^ "Структура військ територіальної оборони Збройних Сил України". www.ukrmilitary.com. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  10. ^ "Avakov speaks of losses of National Guard". UNIAN. 18 April 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  11. ^ ""Нацполіція і Нацгвардія мають бути, як ви – бійці добробатів", – Арсен Аваков (ФОТО, ВІДЕО)". МВС. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  12. ^ "National Guard volunteer battalions. "Donbass" – the path of formation | НГУ". ngu.gov.ua. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  13. ^ "Right Sector leader proposes setting up 'Ukrainian Volunteer Corps' | KyivPost". KyivPost. 14 May 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  14. ^ "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.
  15. ^ a b "Volunteer Battalions Hand in Their Weapons in Eastern Ukraine".
  16. ^ a b c Andrew E. Kramer. Islamic Battalions, Stocked With Chechens, Aid Ukraine in War With Rebels. New York Times. 7 July 2015.
  17. ^ "First pictures of the Batallion n.a. Noman Çelebicihan posted". QHA. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  18. ^ "Crimean Tatar battalion got help from the Crimean Tatar diaspora of Turkey". QHA. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  19. ^ a b Rekawek, Kacper (18 March 2022). "Ukraine's Foreign Legion: 12 important points". University of Oslo. Center for Research on Extremism. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  20. ^ Goncharova, Olena (18 October 2015). "Foreign fighters struggle for legal status in Ukraine". Kyiv Post. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  21. ^ "WHITE SUPREMACY EXTREMISM: The Transnational Rise of the Violent White Supremacist Movement" (PDF). The Soufan Center. September 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  22. ^ a b c d e f Chechen fighter transfers struggle against Kremlin to Ukraine, Chechen fighter transfers struggle against Kremlin to Ukraine], Kyiv Post (27 May 2014)
  23. ^ Oleg Sukhov. Russia’s war against Ukraine renews Chechen animosities. Kyiv Post. 27 March 2015.
  24. ^ Veteran Chechen fighters locked in fierce battle with Russian-backed militants in east Ukraine. Ukraine Today. 18 May 2015.
  25. ^ "https://twitter.com/armedforcesukr/status/1506340977035907080". Twitter. Retrieved 22 March 2022. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)

Sources[edit]

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