{"id":3635,"date":"2022-04-02T05:10:02","date_gmt":"2022-04-02T05:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linksus.net\/belarus-batallion-fights-in-ukraine-for-both-countries-freedom-the-washington-post\/"},"modified":"2022-04-02T05:10:02","modified_gmt":"2022-04-02T05:10:02","slug":"belarus-batallion-fights-in-ukraine-for-both-countries-freedom-the-washington-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/2022\/04\/02\/belarus-batallion-fights-in-ukraine-for-both-countries-freedom-the-washington-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarus batallion fights in Ukraine for 'both countries' freedom' – The Washington Post"},"content":{"rendered":"

KYIV \u2014 For more than a decade, Pavel Kulazhanka has sought to overthrow the authoritarian regime of Alexander Lukashenko in his native Belarus.
First, it was simple street protests. Then, sabotaging train lines and bombing military outposts. Eventually, he had to flee \u2014 and landed in New York City, where he became a mixed martial arts fighter.
But he thinks the best shot yet at toppling Lukashenko \u2014 and Russian President Vladimir Putin, without whose support many in Belarus think Lukashenko would quickly fall \u2014 has come with the war in Ukraine.
He is one of hundreds of Belarusians who have joined the fight here, inspired by their neighbor\u2019s battlefield successes and determined to carry that momentum back into Belarus to end Lukashenko\u2019s 28-year rule.
Many of them have joined the \u201cKastus Kalinouski Battalion,\u201d named after the leader of Belarus\u2019s insurrection against Russia in the 1860s. It is made up of Belarusians taking advantage of Ukraine\u2019s wartime decision to allow foreigners to serve in the ranks of its armed forces, though not as officers. A dozen recruits interviewed by The Washington Post described their sense of common cause between Ukraine and Belarus\u2019s pro-democracy movements.
\u201cLife is about leaps of faith,\u201d Kulazhanka said during a break this week from training with an AK-47 assault rifle in a western suburb of Kyiv. Around him, the sound of distant artillery fire rumbled through the air like a thunderstorm. \u201cFighting Lukashenko was one. Fleeing Belarus was another. Throwing away my life in America was one more. And fighting here, we are making the biggest one of all.\u201d
While Lukashenko\u2019s military has not yet joined Putin\u2019s in Ukraine, Russian soldiers have been based in Belarus since before the war began and launched their main ground offensive on Kyiv and northern Ukraine from there.
About 200 members of the volunteer battalion are serving on the front lines, including in Irpin on Kyiv\u2019s outskirts, where Ukrainian forces recently regained control, Kulazhanka and other recruits said.
They are funded and equipped mostly through donations from the Belarusian and Ukrainian diasporas, including in the United States. But the recent induction of the battalion into the armed forces has meant that some received guns and armor, including some supplied by NATO, from the Ukrainian military.
Those leading the recruitment effort say there are thousands more who have expressed interest, but vetting them and getting equipment has created a backlog. Many are dissidents who were arrested during protests against Lukashenko\u2019s 2020 election win, which they and international observers say was brazenly stolen.
In March, Vadim Prokopiev, a Belarusian restaurateur who has become one of the main organizers of Belarusian recruits from around Europe, met 14 of them at the Poland-Ukraine border before guiding them to a training site.
Only a few allowed their faces to be photographed and none agreed to provide their last names, saying that family members in Belarus could be targeted.
\u201cBasically, there are two wings,\u201d Prokopiev said. \u201cOne in Kyiv already, and one in western Ukraine. Over here, we train recruits intensively for two weeks \u2014 everything from tactical matters to digital hygiene. Then they move east in small groups and make their way to the front lines.\u201d
Prokopiev said that out of thousands who had expressed interest from all over the world, only a hundred or so were currently in the pipeline. He said he expected more high-ranking defected officers to join soon, but for now most were untrained recruits.
While most said they had no prior combat experience, <\/b>some said they have been at the receiving end of Lukashenko\u2019s brutality, which has imbued them with the spirit of revenge.
\u201cI only spent three nights in prison during the 2020 protests,\u201d said Aleksandr, 38. \u201cBut it was enough to make me leave Belarus. I saw women begging not to be beaten, I saw a guy with long hair get scalped. They put 70 of us in a small cell. It was pure brutality, like we are enslaved people or animals. I\u2019m fighting here because until we overthrow Lukashenko, I can\u2019t go back. Defeating Putin in Ukraine is the first step for both countries\u2019 freedom.\u201d
One of the recruits who crossed the border that day, also named Aleks, was a Belarusian passport holder but ethnically Russian. The 61-year-old, the oldest in the group, described himself as a freethinker and a proud Russian who wanted to show Ukrainians that not all Russians supported the war \u2014 in fact, there were some like him who would fight on their side.
\u201cWe have to prove that the Soviet mentality cannot last forever,\u201d he said. \u201cPutin is against goodness, truth and freedom. He has opened old wounds. To heal them, unfortunately, we must fight, and it may take our lives.\u201d
Latest updates from the Ukraine war<\/a><\/span>
Since the war in Ukraine began, Belarusian dissidents have warned that an invasion of Ukraine by Belarus\u2019s military is imminent. Ukraine\u2019s military has echoed those warnings and accused Russia and Belarus of staging small-scale attacks on Belarus as pretexts for a Belarusian invasion, though those allegations have not been proven.
\u201cAccording to my sources in the military, battalions on the Belarusian side of the border are completely prepared for the invasion, they are just waiting for the word go,\u201d said Pavel Latushko, Belarus\u2019s former culture minister who defected to Poland a decade ago and has since organized protests, and now recruitment to Ukraine, from there.
\u201cTo me it is obvious why Lukashenko has not said go yet,\u201d Latushko said. \u201cHe is a master at self-preservation, and he knows that invading Ukraine may be the end of him. His soldiers\u2019 morale is zero for this war. They will defect in droves.\u201d
Lukashenko dismissed the battalion as \u201cinsane citizens\u201d in a recent interview with Belarusian state-run media.
In Ukraine, however, hopes are high among Belarusian recruits that if Belarus\u2019s army invaded, its soldiers would seize the opportunity to defect, and their Belarusian battalion was ready to welcome them.
\u201cWe are already envisaging how to get Belarusian troops to defect into our ranks,\u201d said Sergey Bulba, who along with Prokopiev, leads recruitment and training efforts for Belarusians in Ukraine. \u201cMany soldiers in the army already know in their hearts that the destinies of Belarus and Ukraine are bound to each other. As soon as they leave Belarus\u2019s propaganda bubble, they will know what they have to do.\u201d
The latest: <\/b>The movement of some Russian troops away from Kyiv<\/a> shouldn\u2019t be seen as a de-escalation, the Pentagon said Wednesday<\/a>, as Russian airstrikes continued to batter cities, including Kyiv. Meanwhile, President Biden is expected to announce a massive release of the nation\u2019s strategic oil reserves<\/a> Thursday to combat high gas prices.
The fight: <\/b>Nearly five weeks into their invasion, Russian forces continue to mount sporadic attacks<\/a> on civilian targets in a number of Ukrainian cities. Russia has been accused of committing war crimes<\/a>.
The weapons: <\/b>Ukraine is making use of weapons such as Javelin antitank missiles<\/a> and Switchblade \u201ckamikaze\u201d drones<\/a>, provided by the United States and other allies. Russia has used an array of weapons<\/a> against Ukraine, some of which have drawn the attention and concern of analysts.
In Russia: <\/b>Putin has locked down the flow of information within Russia, where the war isn\u2019t even being called a war<\/a>. The last independent newsletter in Russia suspended its operations<\/a> Monday.
Photos: <\/b>Post photographers have been on the ground from the very beginning of the war \u2014 here\u2019s some of their most powerful work<\/a>.
How you can help:<\/b> Here are ways those in the U.S. can help support the Ukrainian people<\/a> as well as what people around the world have been donating<\/a>.
Read our full coverage of the <\/i>Russia-Ukraine crisis<\/i><\/a>. Are you on Telegram? <\/i>Subscribe to our channel<\/i><\/a> for updates and exclusive video.<\/i>
News\u2022<\/span>
News\u2022<\/span><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KYIV \u2014 For more than a decade, Pavel Kulazhanka has sought to overthrow the authoritarian regime of Alexander Lukashenko in his native Belarus.First, it was simple street protests. Then, sabotaging train lines and bombing military outposts. Eventually, he had to flee \u2014 and landed in New York City, where he became a mixed martial arts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":869,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3635"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3635\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}