Ukraine's National Guard said on May 17 that a group of its soldiers had gone over to the side of the Donetsk People's Republic on Friday, and that this was one of the reasons for a decision to redeploy the local unit of the Guard.
“Around 1500 on May 16, 130 armed men of unclear identity who called themselves the East Battalion arrived at the headquarters of the Eastern Territorial Operational Unit of the Ukrainian National Guard. The strangers surrounded the building, and afterward shots were heard coming from them,” the National Guard command said in a statement.
“As a result of the treachery of a group of contract soldiers who had taken an oath of loyalty to the Donetsk People’s Republic, and in order to prevent bloodshed among conscript soldiers, the command of the Eastern Territorial Operational Unit of the Ukrainian National Guard decided to redeploy the personnel with their armaments to Military Compound No. 2 of military unit 3037,” the command said.
“The Command of the Ukrainian National Guard denies information about the seizure of 200 pieces of automatic weapons [from the Guard] that has been published in the mass media, but at the same time confirms the disappearance of several pistols,” the statement said.
“Currently competent authorities are investigating the incident,” it said. Prosecutors were investigating “the soldiers’ treachery.”
“To organize and coordinate this work and conduct an internal investigation into the incident, a team of investigation officers of the Chief Administration of the Ukrainian National Guard has been sent to the Eastern Territorial Operational Association. The investigation is continuing,” the statement said.
