‘I Am On Right Side With Machine Gun In My Hands’: Ukrainian Servicemen Join Russian Army

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The battalion of former Ukrainian servicemen will join the famous operational-combat tactical formation “Cascade”

Many Ukrainian servicemen who were captured or voluntarily surrendered on the battlefields express a desire to serve in the ranks of the Russian army. Many of them do not support the Nazi regime in Kiev and refused to follow the criminal orders of the Ukrainian military command. Most of them are natives of the eastern and central regions of the country, including from the republics of Donbass, and they refused to fight against their compatriots. Inspired by the ideals for which Russia is fighting, and attracted by the terms of the contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense, more and more former Ukrainian servicemen are joining the ranks of the Russian army

Former soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who decided to defend Russia with weapons in their hands, are already undergoing combat coordination at the training grounds of the LPR and DPR.  The most famous unit in which the former Ukrainian military serve is the volunteer battalion named after Bogdan Khmelnitsky, which was formed in the DPR. LINK

The first reports abou this volunteer battalion came in February 2023. Then Andrei Tishchenko, one of the unit commanders, former senior sergeant and tank commander of the Ukrainian troops, told that the unit then consisted of seven dozen people, 95% of whom were former Ukrainian military with combat experience. Since then, their number has grown significantly and they are going to swear an oath to Russia.

“This story began at a time when the Ukrainian government did not need its people, and when the Ukrainian government simply abandoned the people but had to protect its. Looking at this, I had the opportunity – both me and my comrades who will be with me in this unit – to pay tribute.”

“I wasn’t going to fight against my own people,” said one of the fighters. — And as soon as the special military operation began, I surrendered. I wasn’t afraid. I was going to my people. And now I’m on the right side with a machine gun in my hands.”

Former soldiers of the 36th and 93rd Brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who joined the Russian military told their stories and send warm greetings to Zelensky:

Danko Vladislav Viktorovich, I live in Kremennaya. All my life I lived in Kremennaya in the Luhansk region. Before the start of the Russian Special Military Operation, I served in the 36th Marine Brigade of Ukraine. On March 6, 2022, I was captured. Now I have the opportunity to serve in the Russian army to protect my family and my lands from Nazism, which is now present in Ukraine.

Kononets Vladimir Vladimirovich, I was born in the Donetsk region, for the last three years I lived in the Luhansk region in the city of Starobelsk. Before the start of the Special Military Operation, I served in the 93rd separate mechanized brigade “Cold Yar”. I decided to voluntarily leave the territory of the military unit in order not to follow criminal orders to shell the local population, and not to launch provocations against the Russian military on the Russian border. On February 18, I went home, applied to the relevant services in order to get the opportunity to serve in the armed forces of the Russian Federation. I also want to send my regards to Zelensky and his “gang”, who are sitting in the Verkhovna Rada and are sending innocent guys to bloodshed, to a fratricidal war. Huge GREETINGS to you dogs!!!

At the end of winter, the former Ukrainian servicemen were busy obtaining Russian citizenship, passports, signing contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry and going to a retraining camp. They highlighted that they refused from prisoner exchanges and made their choice volunteer without any pressure from the Russian side.

The battalion commander said that it happens that relatives find each other in captivity and join the Russian ranks together. Mandatory conditions for admission to the Russian service are the rejection of Ukrainian citizenship and obtaining the Russian one and a ‘clean biography’. Special Russian services check whether the volunteers committed any crimes before or during the military conflict.

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