As of: March 8, 2024, 4:15 p.m
By: Luke Rogalla
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Press
Split
Russia is forming battalions of Ukrainian prisoners of war and deploying them to the front - as a politician appointed by Moscow has now openly stated.
Melitopol – Russia has recently been able to gain the upper hand in some areas in the Ukraine war – albeit with extremely high losses.
Most recently, Moscow's troops were able to conquer Avdiivka, a small town in the Donetsk area.
Russia's military is also said to have captured numerous Ukrainian defenders during a chaotic retreat.
It is not known exactly how many Ukrainians are in Russian captivity.
According to official information from Kiev, last November there were more than 5,300 soldiers and 763 civilians.
The Interior Ministry also spoke of 15,000 military personnel and 11,000 civilians missing.
The Russian-appointed governor for the annexed Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balizki, also gave a number - and said publicly that they had no interest in a prisoner swap.
Russia lets Ukrainian prisoners of war fight on the front
In a video that “Russian Media Monitor” shared with a translation on YouTube on Thursday (March 7), Balizki can be heard giving an interview on the sidelines of an unspecified event.
“We have more than 25,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war who do not need any special medical care,” he said.
“We are not talking about the wounded in hospitals,” but only those who are being held separately.
According to Balizki, they represent a problem for Russia. People don't know what to do with them.
So both Russia's armed forces and the government in Moscow decided to form a battalion from the prisoners, who would then take on Russian citizenship.
The first such battalion has been standing and fighting on the front in Donetsk “for some time”: the Bohdan Khmelnytskyi battalion.
In addition, the prisoners of war are used to build or restore military facilities - "so that they can rebuild the new regions of Mother Russia, in revenge for what they themselves destroyed (...) They atone with their blood."
Balitsky also said that they were looking for ways to “assimilate” Ukrainian prisoners.
Under no circumstances do they want to hand them back to Ukraine, because “otherwise they would give them weapons again,” said Balizki.
“Otherwise they will fight or die, which is most likely, or harm us.
We have no intention of bringing her back.
We would like to use them for military purposes, or for civilian ones.” In return they would receive Russian citizenship.
Ukrainian soldiers take a break on the front in the Donetsk region: many of Kiev's fighters are said to have been captured by Russia near Avdiivka.
© Hector Adolfo Quintanar Perez/Imago
The Geneva Convention states that prisoners of war may not be used for work of a military nature or with a military purpose.
So sending the prisoners into battle could be a war crime.
This is probably why Balizki said: “We call them prisoners of war, but they actually have a different status.
That’s what they’re called at the front.” He left it open as to what this “different status” was.
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lrg
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