SHCHASTYA, Ukraine – The soldiers of Ukraine’s volunteer Aidar Battalion have been given their marching orders.
They are leaving their main base in Shchastya, a city 24 kilometers
north of occupied Luhansk. They have held this city since capturing it from
Russian-separatist forces in June 2014. Last month Aidar, which was formed in
May 2014, received orders to pull out.
With fighting in the area dying down, many feel out of place, having
come there to defend Ukraine. They are also dispirited because they think the
battalion is no longer what it used to be – although it was previously a
militia-style unit with a lot of autonomy, now it is being increasingly
integrated into the regular army.
Aidar’s transformation is part of the authorities’ efforts to bring
volunteer units under the regular army’s control. While the government argues
it is introducing order and discipline and punishing criminal behavior, the
volunteers suspect the government’s real motive is to eliminate a possible
challenge to its power.
Located in a former police school, Aidar’s barracks in Shchastya feature
photos of fallen warriors, adorned with Ukrainian flags
and the Tryzub, or trident, the nation’s small coat of arms. The
patriotic spirit is also epitomized by a room with a picture of Ukraine’s
national bard, Taras Shevchenko, which also contains traditional rural spinning
wheels.
Orders for Aidar to withdraw from Shchastia have been issued many times,
but this is the first time they are actually being followed. Only one Aidar
company will remain in the town, and the battalion is also withdrawing from the
village of Tryokhizbenka, west of Shchastia.
Their presence in Shchastia had guaranteed some stability there, the
unit’s members say, and they are worried about what will happen after their
withdrawal.
“They’ll take us out of Shchastia and Tryokhizbenka, and who’ll take our
place?” an Aidar fighter who goes by the nom-de-guerre Kucher told the Kyiv
Post. “We’ve been fighting for over a year and know every bump in the ground
here. But what about [our replacements]?”
Kucher did not give his last name for fear of reprisals from
Kremlin-backed separatists.
Ukraine’s 92nd Mechanized Brigade is replacing the Aidar units.
“The separatists say that if it were not for those ‘mad dogs’ from
Aidar, they would have taken Starobilsk already,” Valentyn Likholit, an Aidar
non-commissioned officer, told the Kyiv Post, referring to a town located
northwest of Shchastia.
Likholit said withdrawal orders were given apparently to recruit new
soldiers and improve communication between various subunits. However, he said
communication runs well and new recruits can simply join the battalion in
Shchastia.
Aidar has changed a lot since last year, when its subordination to the
central military authorities was less strict.
The military leadership has introduced army-style discipline. Unofficial
penalties, such as putting a miscreant in a pit, have been abolished. Fighters
receive salaries now, and most are officially registered as combatants.
A prohibition on alcohol consumption has also been imposed.
Initially there was also confusion over who actually commands the unit,
but those times are over.
Serhiy Melnychuk was its first commander, but he was elected to the
Verkhovna Rada in October 2014, and his deputy Oleksandr Bardash subsequently
became the de facto commander of the unit.
The army leadership appointed Yevhen Ptashnyk as the unit’s commander in
November, but fighters took a lukewarm attitude toward him. They continued to
report either to Bardash or the heads of their subunits. Bardash quit in
February, and Ptashnyk strengthened his control over the battalion.
The Ukrainian authorities have said their efforts to bring Aidar under
control are partly motivated by allegations of widespread criminal behavior
among soldiers of the unit.
In March the Prosecutor General’s Office started a criminal case against
Melnychuk, accusing him of creating a gang made up of Aidar fighters that
carried out kidnappings, torture and robberies. In June, Melnychuk was stripped
of his parliamentary immunity from prosecution.
Aidar’s spokesman Albert Chuvashov told the Kyiv Post that he did not
have any information on the matter and that the fighters who were accused of
committing crimes were no longer at the unit.
Meanwhile, pressure on the unit from Luhansk Oblast Governor Hennady
Moskal is increasing, Aidar soldiers allege. Moskal has repeatedly accused
Aidar fighters of carrying out kidnappings, robberies and hijackings – charges
that they have denied.
In one incident on June 22, Moskal’s press office said that Yury
Naumenko, the head of Aidar’s reconnaissance unit, had been arrested while he
was traveling to Kyiv under charges of illegally carrying weapons out of the
war zone.
Bohdan Tsymbalyuk, a fighter in Naumenko’s unit, told the Kyiv Post his
boss had been traveling to help his common-law wife, who had gotten into a
traffic accident near the city of Svatove in Luhansk Oblast. He argued that
Tsymbalyuk had been carrying weapons legally.
Another trend is that volunteer supplies for Aidar have decreased due to
bureaucratic hurdles at checkpoints, fighters say.
Some are clearly frustrated with the authorities. One of them, Ivan
Makar, even said he believed that “our entire leadership is working for the
Kremlin.”
Given all these developments, the soldiers say the battalion is in
decline. Some soldiers have been dismissed due to the battalion’s
restructuring.
“I’ve already been fired, but I’m still here,” said an Aidar soldier
going by the nickname of Bodya. “I haven’t gotten my wage yet. I’m thinking
where to go. Maybe to the Azov Regiment or the Dnipro-1 Regiment. Or I’ll go
home.”
Volunteers have also been leaving the battalion because it is becoming
more of a regular army unit and because many want to fight, rather than serve
during a truce that never took hold.
“The war is ending,” Makar said. “If nothing changes, I’m retiring in
August.”
Alexander Rychkov is a
freelance journalist who can be reached at [email protected]. Kyiv Post staff
writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at
[email protected].
