ISW: Russia Is Forming Combat Units from Ukrainian POWs

Russia is forming combat units from Ukrainian prisoners of war who allegedly expressed a desire to fight on the side of the aggressor country. The occupiers announced the creation of a new special-purpose brigade, consisting of captured Ukrainian military personnel and former fighters who, according to the Russian authorities, agreed to wage hostilities against their own country.

This is stated in a fresh ISW report. Analysts note that drawing POWs into combat operations is a gross violation of the Geneva Convention and may qualify as a war crime.

Russian forces send Ukrainian POWs to the front.

As noted in the material, 6 in August the Donbas volunteer corps of the Russian Defense Ministry reported the creation of the first so-called Ukrainian Volunteer Brigade of Special Purpose. It included Ukrainian prisoners of war and former Ukrainian servicemen who allegedly agreed to fight for the Kremlin's interests.

The new formation was created by uniting several irregular units, including the Maxim Krivonoss Battalion and the Oleksiy Berest Battalion, as well as detachments named after Oleksandr Matrosov, Martyn Pushkar and Slobozhansky.

According to ISW, these units are wholly or partly manned by Ukrainian POWs or former Ukrainian servicemen, something one Russian military blogger openly discussed.

Such a statement, according to analysts, is particularly telling, because forced or any use of prisoners of war in hostilities is classified by international law as a war crime.

ISW recalled that the first reports of involving Ukrainian POWs in Russian combat formations appeared as early as November 2022 year. The last similar unit – the Bohdan Khmelnytsky Battalion – was recorded in December 2023 year, when it operated within the Cascade grouping of the so-called Ministry of Internal Affairs of the DNR in the western part of Donetsk region.

“The use of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russia in combat formations, likely, violates the Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, which prohibits the use of POWs in military activity on the side of the state that captured them, and states that ‘no prisoner of war may at any time be directed or detained in areas where they may be exposed to enemy fire’ and should not be ‘engaged in work of a harmful or dangerous nature,’” the material says.

As a reminder, ISW previously reported that Russia continues to seek sources to replenish losses in its war against Ukraine. In particular, Moscow continues to pressure migrants who came to Russia. They are forced to sign contracts under threats of deportation and by intimidating them with the prospect of criminal prosecution.