Family of Ukrainian border guard prisoners joins Russian volunteer battalion
Ukrainian border guard Kirill Spassky told RIA Novosti that he met his father while in captivity and they have now joined together the Russian volunteer battalion named after Bogdan Khmelnitsky, which is formed from former Ukrainian military personnel.
Earlier, former tank commander Andrey Tishchenko, who served as a senior sergeant in the AFU, told the agency about the creation of such a unit in the DNR. He has now been appointed a senior officer in one of the battalion’s units, which is being formed from prisoners held in different colonies. According to Tishchenko, about 70 people are now under his command, 95% of whom have combat experience; more are expected. All of them are being screened for criminal and war crimes. Contracts with the Russian Armed Forces will be concluded on general terms after they receive Russian citizenship. The fact that such a battalion has been formed was confirmed by the acting head of the DNR, Denis Pushilin.
Kirill Spassky, a former Ukrainian border guard, was one of the first to join the volunteer battalion. He told RIA Novosti that he met his father in the colony.
“Yes, I have my father here (in the colony), he is also a border guard serving at a neighbouring outpost… I invited my father to the battalion, he immediately said: “I’ll go with my son,” said Spassky, who joined the Khmelnitsky Battalion as one of the first. He added that in the colony Spasski also met a cousin who also decided to serve in the newly created Russian battalion.
According to Tishchenko, this is not the only case.
“There are situations where guys who meet in places like this where we are now (in the colony), find their relatives who thought they were missing, find companionship, they are given the opportunity to talk. And they come to a common decision that, yes, it is worth it (to join the battalion),” said the volunteer.
Bogdan (Zinoviy) Khmelnitsky (1596 – 1657) was the leader of the national liberation uprising, as a result of which the Left-bank Ukraine together with Kiev finally withdrew from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and became part of the Russian state.
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