Voluntarily
A Small Who’s Who of Ukrainian Battalion Commanders
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The Ukrainian volunteer battalions have repeatedly made headlines during the war in the Donbas. Some are accused of representing radical right-wing or even neo-Nazi ideologies; others are blamed for war crimes. Less is known about the battalion commanders. A number of them were elected to the Ukrainian parliament in October 2014. Beyond that, they are connected by little else. Some have been politically active for a long time; others are former professional soldiers who turned their back on private life only in the spring of 2014 in order to counteract the separatism promoted by Russia in the Donbas.
(Osteuropa 1-2/2015, pp. 23–32)