“Be Ukrainian, don’t be meat.” This is the slogan of the Russian battalion named after Maksym Kryvonis, an allegedly volunteer unit staffed by Ukrainian prisoners of war. The Suspilne investigative editorial office has identified more than 30 battalion soldiers. All of them are former Ukrainian servicemen who were captured by the Russians in 2023-2024. In Ukraine, they are officially considered missing, and their families receive payments from the government.
Due to the lack of evidence that all the men joined the battalion voluntarily, we will not name all those whom we have identified. We will tell only about the commanders and the most active spokespeople in the propaganda media. In addition, we will tell you what their former co-servicemen think about the defectors.
“For the opportunity to live in a country free from Western filth”
The Maksym Kryvonis battalion was formed in the summer of 2023 as part of the Russian volunteer corps of the Russian ministry of defense. It consists of former Ukrainian servicemen who were taken prisoners of war by the Russians and – voluntarily or forcibly – became part of the Russian army. In 2024, Andrii Yusov, the representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, stated that this unit was the enemy’s “pale and weak response” to anti-Putin formations in the Ukrainian Defense Forces, such as the Russian Volunteer Corps or the “Freedom of Russia” legion.
Maksym Kryvonis was a Cossack colonel who lived in the 17th century, an ally of Bohdan Khmelnytsky in the early years of the national liberation war against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The unit named after him broadcasts the concept of the “triune Russian nation”, according to which Ukrainians are part of a single historical space with Russians, and Ukraine itself “must be liberated from Western occupation”, without depriving it of its sovereignty.
“What are we fighting for? For the right to a free life, for traditional values that are close to every Ukrainian, for our native land, which will be free from all the Western degenerative filth that is trying to take over our country,” the battalion’s propaganda video says.
The unit’s commander is Kharkiv native Viacheslav Hubin, call sign “Kharkiv Dad”. Before the war, he was a history teacher and a member of the Derhachi district council from the Communist party. After 2014, he switched to the side of pro-Russian militants. Hubin was one of the leaders of the separatist group that tried to create the so-called “KhPR” – “Kharkiv People’s Republic”, and participated in the storming of the Kharkiv regional administration building in March 2014.
Viacheslav Hubin’s son Sviatoslav is the deputy commander of the battalion. His call sign is “Jacq”. In 2014, he joined pro-Russian activists in Kharkiv. After the Security Service of Ukraine destroyed the network, he fled with his father to the occupied part of Donbas and joined the “Donetsk People’s Republic” militants. In 2018-2022, Sviatoslav headed the so-called Novosvitska administration in Donetsk region, and after the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he volunteered to join the occupation forces. He told the Russian propaganda media that the majority of the Kryvonis battalion are Ukrainians forcibly drafted to the Ukrainian army and volunteers who are allegedly loyal to the people of Ukraine, and not to the current leadership of the country or “Western sponsors”.
According to Russian propagandist Gennady Alyokhin, the battalion has about 200 soldiers. Alyokhin claims that this number is constantly growing.
In addition to this battalion, Russia has formed at least four more units with a similar ideological component. They are named after Ukrainian historical figures: Martyn Pushkar, Sydir Kovpak, Oleksandr Matrosov, and Bohdan Khmelnytsky.
All these units have social media pages with similar messages: they demonize the Ukrainian army, support the Putin regime, and call on Ukrainians to fight on the side of the Russian Federation against their own country. In May 2025, the Kryvonis battalion published a post about joint combat coordination with the Zaporizhzhia detachment named after Martyn Pushkar, accompanying the post with the slogan “One people. One faith. One cause”. In June this year, the representatives of all these units for the first time appeared together at an event on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance of World War II victims in occupied Donetsk.
A propaganda unit
The combat path of the Russian Kryvonis battalion began in the Serebrianskyi Forest in Luhansk region in 2023. Then the unit was transferred to the Avdiivka area, where it was involved in battles in Avdiivka, Yasnobrodivka, Novohrodivka, and Selydove. Currently, the battalion provides mortar and drone support in the Pokrovsk area, about which it regularly reports on its Telegram channel. In its summary in January 2025, the Institute for the Study of War mentioned the unit as one that “openly” declared its active participation in the war.
The battalion uses prisoners of war as an element of the information campaign. During an operation in the Serebrianskyi Forest in Luhansk region, the unit captured two Georgian snipers from the 2nd Foreign Legion, Georgy Chubetidze and Georgy Goglidze. Later, an interview with Chubetidze was posted on the battalion’s Telegram channel. The prisoner of war was forced to say that he had been allegedly recruited by the Ukrainian counterintelligence with the promise of $3,000 per month and $300 for the confirmed killing of a Russian serviceman. Chubetidze also accused the Armed Forces of Ukraine of war crimes.
In April 2025, the Russian court found the Georgian volunteers guilty of “mercenary participation in an armed conflict”. Chubetidze was sentenced to 15 years in a maximum-security prison, and Goglidze was sentenced to 9 years.
The Russians actively involve foreign journalists in the battalion promotion. In 2024, the Kryvonis battalion three times hosted foreign film crews to demonstrate the high training and motivation of the former Ukrainian military. In the summer, the representatives of the Arab branch of Russia Today, RT Arabic, and the Chinese television company Phoenix TV filmed the work of UAV crews and talked about the war “against Western policy”. In December of the same year, the propaganda publication “RIA Novosti” held a big press tour for journalists from seven countries.
Despite media promotion, the official platform of the Kryvonis battalion, the Telegram channel “Way of Freedom”, is not very popular. After a year of video summaries, podcasts, and reposts by popular Russian military correspondents, its audience barely exceeds 10 thousand subscribers. To raise visibility, the propaganda channel RT in collaboration with Russian director Vladislav Guz released the film “Healing”. The film is structured as a chain of “confessions”: servicemen tell how they were captured and “found the real Ukraine” in the ranks of the Russian volunteer corps.
The Kryvonis battalion participates in educational and ideological events in the temporarily occupied territories. These events are aimed at militarizing Ukrainian youth. One of them was the youth forum in the town of Shakhtarsk, Donetsk region. It took place in early June 2025 on the occasion of Children’s Day. According to battalion deputy commander Hubin, the purpose of the event was “to form correct, healthy youth who understand, where the threat comes from, and who know even at school age how to defend Donbas”.
The Suspilne investigative editorial office has already reported on how the Russians are militarizing Ukrainian children. In particular, we told about military training in the so-called children’s camps, the militarization of kindergartens, the “Yevpatoria paratroopers”, and the conscription of Ukrainian young men into military service.
Paratrooper from Kyiv region
One of the most media visible persons in the Kryvonis battalion is Oleksii Pidhoretskyi, call sign “Serpent”, the former serviceman of the 95th airborne assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was born in Khabarovsk, and then lived in the town of Skvyra, Kyiv region. Before mobilization in 2023, he had no connection with the army. After being taken prisoner of war, Pidhoretskyi joined the Kryvonis battalion and became the commander of the reconnaissance group.
In an interview to Russian media, Pidhoretskyi publicly states that he did not want to fight for the Ukrainian authorities because they allegedly betrayed the Ukrainians and the army, so he volunteered to join the Kryvonis battalion. He also told about combat operations on the Russian side, in particular, the use of drones and the destruction of Ukrainian combat vehicles in the Avdiivka area.
Pidhoretskyi is one of the unit’s key speakers and regularly comments on the course of hostilities for Russian propaganda media.
He personally confirmed his involvement in the murder of two Ukrainian soldiers. Based on these public confessions, the Security Service of Ukraine declared him suspect in high treason committed under martial law.
Former “Azov” soldier
Anton Maskin, the soldier of the “Azov-Kharkiv” special operations unit (in September 2023, the unit became the 97th battalion of the 60th separate mechanized brigade), joined the Russian Kryvonis battalion after being captured in 2023.
At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Maskin joined the Kharkiv territorial defense unit. A few months later, he was transferred to a special operations unit. He participated in the Kharkiv counteroffensive in the autumn of 2022.
In the interview to the propaganda publication “Zvezda”, Maskin said that he surrendered after a mortar shelling of his position. He says that he would like to return home, but only after the war, because he is “afraid that he will be drafted again”.
In addition, Maskin told “RIA Novosti” that he joined the Russian battalion “to fight Nazism”.
According to him, the battalion provides an opportunity to stand on the “right side of history” and protect the “real Ukraine” from “Western influence”.
The battalion’s main spokesperson is from Rivne region
The media face of the battalion is Volodymyr Koshelyk, call sign “Historian”, a native of Sarny in Rivne region. His military path began in 2014 when he joined the “Tornado” volunteer battalion of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Because of this fact, Koshelyk was labeled by the Russian radical media as a “particularly dangerous Ukrainian terrorist”.
After the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he was transferred to the 47th “Mahura” brigade. According to the Ukrainian register of missing citizens, Koshelyk went missing in the autumn of 2023 near Krasnohorivka in Donetsk region. In the propaganda film “Healing”, he says that he was seriously wounded and that Russian soldiers “rescued and evacuated” him. After that, Koshelyk allegedly voluntarily joined the Kryvonis battalion.
Since 2024, “Historian” has become the unit’s main content creator: as a medic and at the same time the unit’s social media host, he records podcasts with commanders and regularly explains to the audience why “the decisions of the Ukrainian command are senseless and the war is meaningless”. In propaganda interviews, Koshelyk calls himself a “moral critic of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”.
Forester from Zhytomyr region
Maksym Burianchuk from Zhytomyr region is a forester by profession. Until 2023, he worked in a forestry and was preparing his PhD thesis. He had a reservation from mobilization, but in the autumn of 2023 he lost it and went to officer courses, and then to the National Academy of Land Forces in Lviv.
In March 2024, Burianchuk was sent to the 110th mechanized brigade. In the same year, he was reported missing near Arkhanhelske in Donetsk region.
In the interview to “RIA Novosti”, Burianchuk, call sign “Hunter”, said that he was wounded, taken prisoner, passed check-up, and “consciously joined the Kryvonis battalion”. He has been serving as a platoon commander in the battalion for a year. He says that after the war, he dreams of returning to forestry with a Russian passport. He would like to work in the Serebrianskyi Forest, where the unit’s first battles took place.
The Security Service of Ukraine declared Burianchuk suspect in the case of high treason under martial law.
National Guard serviceman who joined the enemy
Roman Smolianiuk is from Chernihiv region. On July 15, 2023, he joined the unit of the National Guard of Ukraine. According to the State Bureau of Investigation, in August of the same year, Smolianiuk went missing. Investigators found out that the soldier was being held by the Russians in the Sukhodilska correctional colony in occupied Luhansk region. According to the investigation, representatives of the Russian special services offered him to join the Kryvonis battalion. As stated in the case, Smolianiuk voluntarily accepted the offer and joined the unit. In February 2025, the State Bureau of Investigation declared him suspect under the article on collaboration activities.
In September 2024, Smolianiuk recorded a video about being injured during a combat mission in the Ukrainian unit, accusing his former co-servicemen and the command of neglect and failure to provide assistance. Now Smolianiuk, call sign “Borzoi”, appears on the unit’s channel during training.
Sniper, paratrooper, and National Guard serviceman
The Security Service of Ukraine has identified three more defectors. Danyil Streltsov, the sniper from the 95th separate airborne assault brigade, went missing in 2023 and ended up in temporarily occupied Yasynuvata, Donetsk region. According to the Security Service, he voluntarily joined the Kryvonis battalion and remains in its ranks. According to the investigation, Streltsov’s motivation was purely ideological: his fight against the Armed Forces of Ukraine was not a consequence of captivity or coercion, but a manifestation of his own beliefs. In December 2024, the Security Service declared him suspicion of high treason committed under martial law.
The Security Service of Ukraine also declared suspicions of collaborationist activities to former paratrooper of the 25th Sicheslav brigade Maksym Ostrovskyi and National Guard serviceman Serhii Usatenko. From March to September 2023, the Russians held them in Sukhodilska colony No. 36 in occupied Luhansk region. According to the Security Service, in the colony, they were offered a “new service” in a newly created volunteer unit. Ostrovskyi and Usatenko agreed.
The only confirmed killed soldier of the Kryvonis battalion
The film “Healing” mentions that at least one member of the battalion has already been killed, Vladyslav Krykun. His page on the Russian social network indicates that he lived in Cherkasy. In the unit’s propaganda video, Krykun said that he did not want to go to the front, but the Security Service of Ukraine started threatening him. Eventually, he was drafted. Later, while at the front, he allegedly saw a TikTok video about the Kryvonis battalion and decided to join it. It is unknown how Krykun got in captivity.
The problem of missing persons who have defected to the enemy
Almost all servicemen mentioned in the article are officially considered missing in Ukraine. Their names are still on the Unified register of persons missing in special circumstances, even though some of them are suspected of high treason or collaboration.
The register is maintained by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The information about a serviceman who disappeared during a battle or march is entered into the database upon application by the unit commander or relatives.
After a person is entered into the register, they officially receive the status of “missing person”. Only a structural unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs can remove the record.
According to the provisions of this register, data on missing persons do not disappear immediately after the authorized bodies have clarified the fate of these persons. The record is kept for another 75 years after the day of closing the criminal search investigation, regardless of whether the person was found alive or buried. After closing the case, a police investigator must notify the administrator of the register within three days, and a note is made on the card stating that the search has been terminated.
The Suspilne investigative editorial office sent an information request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs asking them to explain why the soldiers who publicly fight as part of the Kryvonis battalion are still considered “missing”. As of the date of publication of this article, we have not received a response from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
According to the law “On Social and Legal Protection of Servicemen”, if a serviceman disappears during a combat mission and is entered into the register of missing persons, the serviceman’s family can apply to the Ministry of Defense to receive financial support. Relatives of Kryvonis battalion soldiers also receive such assistance.
This was confirmed in our conversation with the sister of one of the former Ukrainian servicemen, who is currently serving in the Russian Kryvonis battalion. The woman says that in 2023 she lost contact with her brother who was serving in Donetsk region. The family lived in a state of prolonged uncertainty, while continuing to receive compensation payments initiated by the brigade command. The woman claims that she did not know that her brother was fighting as part of an enemy unit. She told us that she plans to contact the Security Service of Ukraine to provide all available information.
The Ministry of Defense responded to our request regarding payments to the families of those who defected to the enemy with a reference to Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 884 of November 30, 2016. “One of the grounds for refusing payment is establishing the fact that a certain person has citizenship of the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus, permanently resides in the territory of these countries, or has been convicted of high treason, collaboration, or aiding an aggressor country,” the resolution states. “Payments are also not made if it is established that a serviceman surrendered voluntarily, voluntarily left a military unit (place of service), or deserted.”
The response adds that the fact of being suspected of committing a criminal offense is not an automatic basis for terminating social benefits to a family or changing the status of a person in military registration. The Ministry of Defense also notes that the termination of payments is announced by a corresponding order of the unit commander.
Serhii Lankin, the lawyer at the “Hloba and Hloba” law firm, explains that decisions on the payment of financial support to family members of servicemen who have gone missing are made by commanders of military units after the family application. Before providing the support, the units should check whether the servicemen do not have Russian or Belarusian citizenship, a conviction for high treason or collaboration, and whether the serviceman surrendered voluntarily.
According to the requirements of Resolution No. 884, every year on January 1 and July 1, military units must verify the grounds for further payments.
The unit commander can also issue an order on his own initiative to stop payments if it is established that the missing serviceman lives in the territory of the Russian Federation or has been convicted of high treason, collaborationism, or similar crimes, adds Lankin.
“However, Resolution No. 884 does not regulate the list of documents that may be grounds for terminating payments,” Lankin says. “Therefore, formally, the commander of a military unit can make such a decision based on any information, including reports, letters from the Security Service of Ukraine, and video materials published on the Internet. The resolution also does not provide for a detailed procedure for interaction in such cases between the military unit and other state bodies, in particular, the military registration office, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Prosecutor’s office. The lack of a detailed regulation may lead to cases of subjective decisions by commanders of military units, and this negatively affects the situation of the families of servicemen.”
Lankin also emphasizes that a person is considered convicted only after the court verdict comes into force. Declared suspicions of high treason, collaborationism, or assistance to an aggressor country do not provide grounds for stopping financial support to the family.
Therefore, in fact, the families of the Kryvonis battalion servicemen can receive payments until the court finds their relatives guilty of joining the enemy.
We contacted spokespersons of the brigades whose former servicemen joined the Kryvonis battalion.
Maksym Bilousov, the spokesman for the 60th separate mechanized brigade, confirmed that Anton Maskin disappeared in the autumn of 2023 and in November of the same year joined the Russian Kryvonis battalion. According to Bilousov, a criminal case was launched under the article “high treason”, and all payments to his family have been suspended. According to the spokesman, Maskin’s wife learned about her husband’s captivity from TikTok propaganda videos.
“His wife learned about Maskin’s disappearance at the same time as the brigade. She phoned to us and said she was aware of the suspension of compensation payments,” the spokesman said.
Bilousov explained that the termination of payments is initiated by the unit commander who must contact the military registration office, which drafted the soldier:
“The military unit sends a letter there with information that a serviceman, who was previously listed as missing, surrendered voluntarily and joined the enemy. After that, a criminal case for “high treason” is launched and, while the investigation is ongoing, all payments to the family are suspended. All further communication with the family takes place through the military registration office. A special team, which must include a psychologist, is organized to immediately support the mother or wife and explain the situation.”
Ivan Sekach, the spokesman for the 110th separate mechanized brigade, with whom we spoke about soldier Maksym Burianchuk, noted that the brigade does not investigate cases of missing soldiers:
“Military registration offices are involved in the issues of the killed and missing because they carried out the conscription and keep records of the conscripted persons at their place of residence. Regarding the missing persons, the brigade has limited powers. It establishes only the initial status of “missing person” and issues the corresponding certificate. As for payments to family members (of Kryvonis battalion servicemen – ed.), they have been suspended. There is a recognized fact of defection to the enemy. The information has been transferred to the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”
Recruitment of prisoners of war into combat units is a war crime
Forcing prisoners of war to serve in the armed forces of an aggressor country is a war crime. It is directly prohibited by the Third Geneva Convention of 1949.
We addressed Illia Nuzov, the head of the European Network of Human Rights Organizations, to find out who will bear legal responsibility for this crime. According to him, Russian officials who may have been involved in forced recruitment – officers, commandants of prisoner-of-war camps, or FSB representatives – fall under the jurisdiction of the international law and can be held accountable by the International Criminal Court.
“This clearly considered to be a serious breach of the Geneva Conventions. In the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, this practice is covered by Article 8 Compelling a prisoner of war to serve in the forces of an enemy country. This is an international crime,” says Nuzov.
The lawyer notes that the fact of a prisoner of war defecting to the enemy is not automatically a crime if the soldier did it voluntarily:
“Yes, a prisoner of war has the right to voluntarily join the enemy army; this in itself is not a violation. However, it is clear that in the case of Ukrainian servicemen who are held in conditions of torture, humiliation, and isolation, it is practically impossible to assess the true “voluntariness” of this decision. Therefore, an investigation is needed in each specific case.”
The expert added that the recruitment of Ukrainian prisoners of war into the Russian unit has no military expediency. It is rather an informational and psychological operation for the Russian audience:
“Even a few hundred forcibly recruited people will not have any decisive influence on the front. Moreover, these people will probably return to the Ukrainian army at the first opportunity. However, the picture for Russian television is different. It creates the impression that Ukrainians are desperate, admit their “mistake”, and are now joining the “right” side, that is, Russia. This is the main goal of this action.”
The lawyer also believes that Ukraine should take a number of international legal steps to record this violation. In his opinion, the International Committee of the Red Cross should be informed about cases of forced recruitment of prisoners of war. This may increase pressure on Russia and force it to allow representatives of the committee to enter places where prisoners of war are held. Nuzov also emphasizes the importance of transferring the collected information to the UN Commission of inquiry into violations in Ukraine and to the International Criminal Court as evidence of a war crime.
“Freedom of Russia” opinion on the Kryvonis battalion
We spoke with representatives of the “Freedom of Russia” legion. This unit is part of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense. It has been voluntarily fighting on the side of Ukraine since 2022. They call such battalions a masquerade.
“We believe that this is a strategy of blurring meanings and supporting the Russian state information ambiguity according to Orwell: the “Freedom of Russia” legion consists of traitors, but there is the Kryvonis battalion of Ukrainians disappointed in Ukraine, look, they even have Ukrainian video titles on YouTube.” And so on according to propaganda clichés,” the unit’s press service replied.
The legionnaires we spoke with are convinced that most of the Ukrainian prisoners of war who appear in Russian videos are not participating in hostilities of their own free will, and the units themselves exist only “for show” and do not even have the minimum number of servicemen necessary for combat operations. Unlike the legionnaires who fight as part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and have official status, contracts, and social guarantees, the Kryvonis battalion members are deprived of any legal or material basis, the “Freedom of Russia” told Suspilne.
According to the legionnaires, by showing the world supposedly “disillusioned Ukrainians” who are fighting against Kyiv, Moscow seeks to “blur the meanings” and replace reality. To do this, they use recognizable historical brands and propaganda clichés about “one people”, “protection of language and faith”, and “Ukrainian Nazism”. However, the legionnaires are convinced that this is designed exclusively for the internal Russian audience, and such units cannot grow into a real fighting force. Therefore, they do not see either a military or information threat in the appearance of these battalions.
This publication was funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.