Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Ukrainian intelligence has confirmed data about formations by Russian forces of combat units composed of captured Ukrainians. The relevant facts are not only monitored but also documented for further response.
During a press conference at the Ukrinform agency, Andriy Pasternak, head of the Unified Center for Coordination of Search and Release of POWs under the Security Service of Ukraine, reported this.
What is known about Russian units formed from Ukrainian prisoners?
Pasternak stressed that Ukrainian special services, together with colleagues from foreign and military intelligence, are collecting an evidentiary base regarding these actions. He also confirmed that information about such battalions already exists in the work of Ukrainian security agencies.
Earlier it became known that analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) also disclosed new details about this crime of the occupiers. In particular, 6 in August the Russian Ministry of Defense openly announced the creation of the so-called First Ukrainian Volunteer Brigade of Special Purpose. It is said that the enemy included Ukrainian prisoners of war and former servicemen who, under coercion or for other reasons, switched to Russia.
This brigade was formed by uniting several irregular units. Among them are battalions named after Maksym Kryvonos and Oleksiy Berest, as well as detachments named after Oleksandr Matrosov, Martin Pushkar, and Slobidsky. ISW experts note that the first reports of Russia forming combat groups from Ukrainian prisoners were recorded as early as November 2022 of the year. The most recent known case prior to this was the Russian battalion Bohdan Khmelnytsky, which in December 2023 operated as part of the Kastak formation of the so-called Ministry of Internal Affairs of a pseudo-republic in the western Donetsk region.
Note that such use by Russia of Ukrainian prisoners in combat operations is a direct and gross violation of the Geneva Convention. International law strictly forbids forcing prisoners of war to fight on the side of the country that captured them, as well as sending them to combat zones or involving them in dangerous work for life and health.
It is worth adding that as of May of the current year, information emerged about Russia’s detention of about seven thousand Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Українська розвідка офіційно підтвердила створення Росією батальйонів із полонених". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Channel 24.