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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Russia continues to form combat units from Ukrainian prisoners of war. This practice by the aggressor began back in 2022 year.
New details about the perpetrators' crime are reported by the Institute for the Study of War.
What is known about Russian squads composed of Ukrainians?
6 August, the Russian Defense Ministry reported the creation of the first Ukrainian volunteer special forces brigade.
Its supposed members included Ukrainian POWs and former Ukrainian service members who, according to the enemy, switched sides to Russia.
The brigade was formed by uniting several irregular so-called volunteer units, including the Maxim Krivonosa and Oleksiy Berest battalions, as well as squads named after Oleksandr Matrosov, Martin Pushkar and Slobidsky.
ISW for the first time recorded a report of Russia forming combat units from Ukrainian POWs in November 2022.
The most recent known case was the Russian Bohdan Khmelnytsky Battalion, formed from Ukrainian POWs. In December 2023 it operated within the Cascade formation of the so-called MVD 'DPR' in the western Donetsk region.
Russia's use of Ukrainian prisoners of war in combat operations violates the Geneva Convention. It forbids forcing POWs to fight for the country that captured them. They also cannot be sent to combat zones or engaged in dangerous work for health reasons,
— the analysts concluded.
As a reminder, in May it was reported that Russia is holding about 7 thousand prisoners of war.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Цинізму немає меж: Росія формує бойові підрозділи з українських полонених, – ISW". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Channel 24.
