#belarusian volunteer

[herukapadmajungiansworld]

[blueiskewl]

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Hit it Good

Belarusian volunteer soldiers from the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment firing MILAN anti-tank weapons against Russian targets.

[molfarua]

🤡 lukashenko remembered the battalions of Belarusian volunteers in Ukraine, instructed to begin preparations for the defense of the state according to wartime standards. 🤡 лукашенко згадав про батальйони білоруських добровольців в Україні і доручив розпочати підготовку до оборони держави за нормами воєнного часу.

[septembriseur]

‘Dutch citizens Abdulaal Hussein, a 24-year-old actor, and Martine Doppen, a 30-year-old climate campaigner, have been released on bail but are due to stand trial later this year.

Hussein, a Dutch citizen of Sudanese origin, said his younger sister Mabroka left Sudan last spring after taking part in a documentary that highlighted her activism against the regime there and receiving threats.

After making it to Egypt, desperate to reach the safety of Europe, she paid intermediaries to help her with a journey via Russia and Belarus. Her group was able to successfully cross the border to Latvia but the smugglers left her and a group of four other Sudanese people at an abandoned farmhouse, where she was stuck without food, water or heating.

“When she was able to contact us with her location, we tried to find someone in Latvia who could help her but it was impossible, so we decided to go there ourselves and rescue her,” Doppen said. A shaky handheld video shows the moment of joy when Hussein and his sister were reunited. He and Doppen took Mabroka and two other Sudanese women in the group to their car and drove them to an acquaintance’s house in Lithuania.

She and Hussein were driven by the human instinct to help people in need, she said, and they knew that if the Latvian authorities caught the refugees they would probably be pushed back to Belarus.

The route through Belarus into the EU has been used by many people since 2021, when the dictatorial regime of Alexander Lukashenko was accused of weaponising migration by allowing people from conflict-stricken countries to enter Belarus and then encouraging them to cross the border.

Activists say that, even if that was initially true, many of those who cross the border are genuinely in need and deserving of having their asylum claims heard. Instead, guards in Poland and Latvia have been accused of violent “pushbacks”, not allowing people who cross to claim asylum. Often they are then stuck in a forested grey zone for days or weeks as Belarusian guards do not allow them to return further into Belarus. Many people have died at the border over the past three years.

…Hussein, who has worked as a volunteer to help newly arrived refugees integrate into Dutch society, said he felt it was deeply unfair to put someone on trial for trying to help people in need, when the motive was only humanitarian and not financial.’

[captain-price-unofficially]

Belarusian volunteers in urban combat against Russian troops in Severodonetsk, June 2022

[radiofreederry]

Happy birthday, Pyotr Masherov! (February 26, 1919)

Leader of Soviet Belarus from 1965 to 1980, Pyotr Masherov was born as part of the first generation of Soviet children following the revolution. During the Second World War, Masherov volunteered to join the Red Army and escaped German captivity after being captured during the fighting. Masherov organized the nucleus of what would become the Belarusian underground resistance to German occupation, and his partisan activities during the war gave him stature and prominence after it had ended, culminating in his rise to the position of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia. As First Secretary, Masherov oversaw Belarus' development into a major center of industry in the USSR, and was seen as leadership material for the Soviet Union outright. He died in 1980 in an auto accident, but remains admired in Belarus today.

[enyoalkis]

Ask game! 20, 22, 30

These answers turned out long 😅 Whoops!

20. Favorite Hetalia relationship dynamic?

Enemies to lovers - Fruk and Rusame

Like an old married couple - Also Fruk.

Girlboss/Malewife - Aushun, nuff said.

Childhood sweethearts - To me, this is Lietbel (my OTP). They also have a knight/lady or princess dynamic, but this even could apply to Lietpol too because... Feliks IS the pretty princess. 🤣

Arranged marriage - Lietpol because of the Union of Krewo and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. But I also can see this in Lietbel in historical Hetalia, as the Principality of Polotsk (considered the first proto-Belarusian state) joined with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to avoid invasions from both the Teutonic Knights and Mongol Empire. It could be a 3-way marriage union... or 4 if you count Ukraine? 😉

22. Top favorite fanfictions?

Oh man, I have a lot! I'm going to list some old fanfics I faved on my old FFNet acc that I used to love in high school though, because I hardly read fanfics anymore.

Nineteen Ninety - VoicesoftheSoul - One of the first fics of my OTP Lietbel I've read.

Belaya Rus: On a Spring Day in 1487 - rev lady mal - Belarus history-centric. This fic first introduced me to learning about the history of Belarus and her long history with Lithuania in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. There are historical inaccuracies and she comes off as OOC, but I appreciate this fic as an attempt to show her history that is not known in the mainstream in Hetalia-style – and not portray her to be a hostile bitch or have a romantic or sexual obsession over Ivan.

Rings, Rejection, and an Unintentional Fiancé - Anonymous Dream Echo - One of my ultimate fave Lietbel fanfics! I still go back to re-read this here and there despite there being some cultural inaccuracies.

Plastic Talks - Mandelene - This fic kinda helped me cope with my teen angst and issues at the time. Still is a so well-written high school AU of Nyo!America.

Raven Tears - Dontmezwitme - Probably one of the most heartwrenching fics about loss and colonization of the Americas I've read. This focuses on the fanon personification of all American Indians/Indigenous Americans and First Nations raising her twin sons that later became known as the U.S. and Canada.

Childs Play - pupeez4eva - It sadly never finished but this was my favorite comedy fic of nations being turned back into their child selves.

A Colony, a Babysitter, and an Old Rivalry - TheFreakZone - A comedy fic on England planning a date with France but is looking for a babysitter for Gibraltar. Spain volunteers because he wants to claim him back. So many good witty liners!

30. BroTP? Headcanons?

When I was in high school, America/Canada was my BroTP (still love em tho!) but now as an adult, they are Poland/Belarus, Poland/Hungary (sometimes, I ship them romantically 😅), and Lithuania/Latvia!

Most of my headcanons for each here below will be referencing real-life history.

Poland/Balarus:

Natallia sees Feliks more as an actual brother than her "biological" brother Ivan, as they were around each other often for most of their later childhood and adolescent years during the Polish-Lithuania union and Commonwealth. The Belarusian language is greatly influenced by Polish. I know in canon their relationship comes off as more hostile, but I depict them in my head as having a bickering sibling-like relationship.

Because of their history, Natallia and Feliks can speak a vernacular language/dialect that may be a creole and strange mix of Polish and Belarusian: Tutejšy (or tutejszy). It was commonly spoken by peasants since it was simple speech. I read somewhere (can't remember where) that in Lithuania near the Lithuania-Belarus border, you can find some elderly Lithuanian Poles speaking it, except it may be blended with the Russian language too.

Feliks calls Natallia "Nastka," a Polish diminutive of her name. She calls him "Felek."

They both LOOVE gossiping and spilling to each other pop culture tea! I mean, Natallia knows so much countless trivia, even Paris Hilton's dog name, in canon so I can see her being a bit chronically online googling celeb tea.

Poland/Hungary:

They've been besties forever since early childhood, even married at least once before Poland married Lithuania.

Austria definitely has his moments of being jealous of their friendship.

Both are fluent in each others' languages and when they communicate, they speak in a creole language that baffles other countries because it sounds "so strange." Hungarian is not considered an Indo-European language.

Feliks calls Erzsébet "Ela" and "Ellcia," Polish diminutives of her name.

Lithuania/Latvia:

I generally consider them both to be "biological" brothers since they're both Baltic, with Lithuania being the older sibling. Although, sometimes I like toying with the idea they're cousins because Lithuania and Latvia do have diverging cultures/histories.

They love playing basketball together (although, Raivis' true favorite sport is hockey since it's Latvia's most popular sport). And they both act like loud frat boys when watching games, whether in person or on TV.

They both like to pull potato-themed pranks occasionally on Belarus and Ireland, some other countries with high potato consumption and have potato stereotypes.

Raivis has physically aged more since declaring independence in the 90s and his economy growing stronger, so he's now physically 17 – and has grown taller than Tolys!

Both are great singers and dancers, but Raivis is the "better" one.

Unlike Tolys, Raivis does not dislike Gilbert as much, at least not as much as he used to. But Raivis is willing to join in with Tolys in annoying him.

[tunneldweller]

tw: human rights violations, injuries, death

In early August 2021, asylum seekers started showing up in unusually large numbers in Poland near the border with Belarus. The border area is mostly covered with forests and bogs with farming villages past the woods. It's chock full of gorgeous landscapes, including Europe's largest remaining stretch of primeval forest west of Russia - the Białowieża Forest, a largely pristine ecosystem with so damn much biodiversity. Bison, lynx, three species of shrew, the last remaining European populations of various insects, tons of birds, fungi, mosses, you name it. Scientists and environmentalists love it [and forestry officials want to manage it, but that's a story for another day].

So: asylum seekers. Hungry, filthy, exhausted people from places like Afghanistan or Syria, which incidentally do not share a border with Poland. The locals, being decent folk, started feeding and helping these new arrivals, because that's just what you do when a tattered wraith shows up on your doorstep speaking some weirdass language and making the universal gesture for "I'm hungry". The Border Guard, being in violation of national laws as well as international conventions Poland had ratified, started trucking these asylum seekers back to the border and forcing them to cross back to Belarus, which is called a pushback. The Polish government, elected in part due to vicious anti-refugee propaganda, stated that the border must be reinforced to prevent the entry of "waves of unauthorized persons" participating in "hybrid warfare" and declared a state of emergency along the entire border. These migrants, they said, were extremely dangerous. Culturally foreign.

Why would seeking asylum be considered hybrid warfare? This links back to Europe's last remaining dictator west of Russia: Alaksandr Lukashenka, Supreme Ruler and Deathless Emperor of Belarus. His people allegedly came up with a clever racket: they started selling Belarusian visas in various poorer countries many people want to emigrate from and transporting migrants to the Polish border, claiming that this would be their gateway to a better life in the European Union.

So: asylum seekers. According to Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. [Incidentally, Poland is a signatory of the UDHR.] Regardless of their country of origin, people crossing over from Belarus have the right to request asylum in Poland. And they do. Every time they get caught. In English, in Polish, in their native languages… Upon hearing a request for asylum the Border Guards are supposed to transport the migrants to a processing center where they would then wait for their application to be reviewed. But because these migrants are extremely dangerous, the Border Guards trash their belongings and dump them on the Belarusian side without shoes, without meds, phones, jackets, in any kind of weather, regardless of any injuries. And there are many. The terrain can be tricky to cross if you're not used to this type of boggy temperate forest. Or if you haven't had your meds in a while. Or if you're six. It won't be easy even if you're a - just like the current government's fearmongering election ads warned a few years ago - healthy young male with a cell phone.

When Belarusian Border Guards come across these ejected migrants, they force them back toward the Polish border. People keep ping-ponging between two walls of armed, uniformed enforcers who are getting more violent with every passing week. Some manage to get through and make it to Germany to request asylum in a law-abiding country. Others don't. 48 bodies were recovered along the border so far. NGO workers creep through the woods handing out hot soup and donated shoes to migrants; according to them, this is a fraction of the real number of casualties and some bodies will simply never be found. Volunteer medics get their tires slashed, aid workers get harassed, detained and charged. But the Border Guards don't kill, yet. Not directly. We're Europeans, after all! We're civilized!

It's a humanitarian crisis and an international shame. And the [abridged] wall of text above provides the necessary context to why I can't schadenfreudenly cackle over the latest government scandal, even though I love to point and laugh when that bunch steps on a rake.

See, earlier this month a Deputy Foreign Minister got fired for helping with a work visa racket. When the border crisis began to unfold, he'd already been ~facilitating procedures~ for like a year. This country needs workers; a significant chunk of the workforce up and emigrated, including many healthy young males, and the national birth rate is still failing even though the government did everything like the Catholic Church said. The deputy minister wouldn't even come up with a list of in-demand jobs; diplomatic missions are slammed with work after other changes he did implement, so he'd personally order consulates in some Asian and African countries to expedite certain applications. And all that time his party has been openly approving of unconstitutional pushback procedures targeting people from similarly "culturally foreign" [read: Muslim] countries. Incidentally, this far-right party is called Law and Justice. Hypocrisy is a virtue and cruelty is the point.

I wanted to end this with a punchy, quotable call for action, but my words ran out. The border crisis is still happening, even though it's clear by now that Poles and Poland can handle an influx of refugees far larger than the groups coming through Belarus. Summer is almost over and the coming months are likely to be cold and rainy. All I can do is signal boost and donate to aid groups.

[ukrainenews]

Daily Wrap Up October 13-16, 2022

(Sorry for no updates, I had family visiting.)

Under the cut:

The number of Russian troops who will be in Belarus as part of the deployment of the "joint group of troops" will be up to 9,000.

At least 11 people were killed and 15 more wounded at a Russian military training ground on Saturday when two attackers opened fire on a group of volunteers who wished to fight in Ukraine, RIA news agency said.

Very fierce battles are taking place around the eastern Donetsk region, and the Ukrainian military is holding its position there, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Saturday.

US President Joe Biden has approved an additional $725 million in security aid for Ukraine, according to a statement from the State Department.

Germany provided Ukraine with 16 Biber tank bridge-builders, according to federal government data. In addition, Germany supplied Ukraine with 10 pontoon bridge machines. Last week, Ukraine also received 16 Zuzanna self-propelled artillery systems. The firing range of 155-mm artillery guns reaches 41 km.

“The number of Russian troops who will be in Belarus as part of the deployment of the "joint group of troops" will be up to 9,000.

As European Truth reports, Valery Revenko, Assistant Minister of Defense of Belarus for International Military Cooperation, said this on his Twitter page.

"The first military echelons with Russian servicemen, who are part of the SUG ( joint grouping of forces ), have begun to arrive in Belarus. The move will last several days. The total number will be slightly less than 9 thousand people. More information will be provided at a briefing for military attachés," he writes. he.  

It will be recalled that on October 10, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said that he and the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin , agreed to deploy a joint regional grouping of troops. According to him, Belarus decided to do this because of the need to strengthen its security "due to a rapid change in the situation".

Lukashenko also announced the imminent arrival of the Russian military in the country . "Do not count on a large number of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. But it will not be one thousand people," the Belarusian dictator clarified.

The day before, the Ministry of Defense of Belarus had already announced the arrival of the first echelons of Russian military personnel to the country.

Read about what the appearance of the Russian military means in Belarus and the likelihood of a new offensive from its territory in the article Lukashenko is preparing for an attack: what threats is the Belarusian dictator capable of implementing.”-via Euro Integration (Ukrainian language source)

~

“At least 11 people were killed and 15 more wounded at a Russian military training ground on Saturday when two attackers opened fire on a group of volunteers who wished to fight in Ukraine, RIA news agency said.

The deadly incident is just the latest in a series of high-profile setbacks for Moscow's forces since the Feb. 24 invasion.

RIA, citing the defence ministry, said the two assailants had been shot dead after the attack in the southwestern Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine.

"During a firearms training session with individuals who voluntarily expressed a desire to participate in the special military operation (against Ukraine), the terrorists opened fire with small arms on the personnel of the unit," RIA cited a defence ministry statement as saying.

"As a result of the shooting, 11 people were fatally wounded. Another 15 people with wounds of varying severity were taken to a medical facility," it said.

Oleksiy Arestovych, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in a YouTube interview that the attackers were from the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan and had opened fire on the others after an argument over religion.

Tajikistan is a predominantly Muslim nation, while around half of Russians follow various branches of the Christian church. The Russian defence ministry said the attackers were from a nation that belonged to the Commonwealth of Independent States, which groups nine ex-Soviet republics, including Tajikistan.

Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the comments by Arestovych, a prominent commentator on the war who appears in the media on an almost daily basis.

RIA did not say where the attack took place. The independent Russian news website Sota Vision said it had happened in the small town of Soloti, close to the Ukrainian border and about 105 km (65 miles) south east of Belgorod.

Authorities in Belgorod itself have repeatedly accused Ukraine of attacking targets in the city, including power lines and fuel and ammunition stores.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility.”-via Reuters

~

“Very fierce battles are taking place around the eastern Donetsk region, and the Ukrainian military is holding its position there, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Saturday.

“Active operations continue in various areas of the front. A very difficult situation persists in Donetsk region and Luhansk,” Zelensky said, referring to another eastern region that has been occupied by Russian troops for months. “The most difficult is the Bakhmut direction, as in the previous days. We hold our positions.”

Bakhmut is located in the northern portion of Donetsk region.

Work still to do on recaptured land: Zelensky also gave an update on the efforts to reconnect services to regions of Ukraine recently liberated from Russian forces.

He said homes in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Izium, which was under Russian occupation for six months before being liberated in September, are having their supply of natural gas restored.

“The first 500 families of the city already have gas in their homes again,” he said. “Just yesterday, more than 3,000 houses in the Izium, Kupiansk, Chuhuiv and Kharkiv districts of Kharkiv region were connected to the gas supply. Work is ongoing in other directions as well.””-via CNN

~

“US President Joe Biden has approved an additional $725 million in security aid for Ukraine, according to a statement from the State Department.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Biden on Twitter Saturday morning.

“Sincerely grateful to POTUS, the people from United States for providing another $725 million security aid package. We will receive, in particular, much-needed rounds for HIMARS and artillery,” the message reads. “A wonderful gift for Ukraine’s Defenders’ Day! The Russian aggressor will be defeated, Ukraine will be free!”

The Biden administration authorized the additional presidential drawdown — a form of military spending that allows for speedy approval — for Ukraine Friday.

The $725 million package includes ammunition for HIMARS, HARMs (air-to-surface missiles), anti-tank weapons, Humvees, 155mm artillery rounds, small arms and small arms ammunition, precision-guided artillery rounds and medical supplies.”-via CNN

~

“Germany provided Ukraine with 16 Biber tank bridge-builders, according to federal government data.

In addition, Germany supplied Ukraine with 10 pontoon bridge machines.

Last week, Ukraine also received 16 Zuzanna self-propelled artillery systems. The firing range of 155-mm artillery guns reaches 41 km.

In September, Germany handed Ukraine six Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, bringing their total number to 30.

The Armed Forces received 59,000 shells for the Gepard Armed Forces, five 227-mm M270 MARS multiple rocket launcher systems. In addition, 12 155-mm PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers and 10,500 shells for them were transferred to Kyiv in the summer.

The Armed Forces also received three thousand Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank missile systems, almost 15 thousand anti-tank mines, 54 M113 infantry fighting vehicles and 3.2 thousand portable anti-aircraft missile systems.

Currently, Germany's military aid to Ukraine is estimated at $1.5 billion.”-via Interfax (Ukrainian language source)

~

“A missile from Ukraine hit an oil depot in the Russian region of Belgorod Saturday afternoon, causing a fire at the facility, according to a local official.

“I am at the scene. The Ministry of Emergency Situations is already fighting the fire. There is no threat of the fire spreading,” Vyacheslav Gladkov, Belgorod’s governor, said in a statement on Telegram.

Belgorod is near the border with Ukraine’s Kharkiv.

Emergency services said one of 10 tanks at the depot was damaged due to the shelling, according to Russian state media.

Last week the Russian secret service said Ukrainian forces have significantly increased shelling of Russian territory in the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions since the beginning of October.”-via CNN

[taiwantalk]

This is a garbage article to fill dead article space. But we all need to be careful with this kind of article because it’s subliminal.

The facts are the following and are happening:

1) this entire matter, let’s call it, prigony, is now like the movie rashomon. putin called it failed attempt, prigo said he just want to hug, storm z called prigo a rat, and lukashenko said putin wanted to wipe out prigo.

2) false flag or real mutiny or a little bit of both, the truth will rest with the wagners who are not privileged to go with prigo and move to belarus. The abandoned wagners.

They’d just marched for nothing, got double crossed, got bombed, got cannon foddered, they got used to shoot countless who were reluctant to charge forward. they have zero say now and they are going to be ridiculed endlessly.

3) remembered prigo said in his last audio release, wagoner’s march to Moscow is a master class and it’s how 2/24/22 was supposed to be like. It begs the question of is prigo saying that he just wanted to give Zelenskyy a hug and order russian forces to stand down after getting to half way?

4) I think Belarusian volunteer fighters should consider a joint operation to capture prigozhin live and make him talk. Prigo would sing beautifully.

[beardedmrbean]

As concerns mount that Russia may be looking to foreign allies like Belarus to provide more boots on the ground as its forces flag in Ukraine, one Belarusian commander tells Fox News Digital this strategy could mean trouble in Minsk’s ranks.

"My forecast is that it is unlikely to happen, but if it does, then there will be huge problems," Belarusian commander in the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment, Denys Prokhorov, said speaking from Kyiv.

Prokhorov said Belarus would likely face "troop sabotage and [an] unwillingness to go to war" if Minsk forced its troops to fight with Russia in Ukraine. 

Russia and Belarus have increasingly engaged in joint military drills and the Ukrainian Armed Forces have warned that Minsk is testing its combat readiness in regions that border Ukraine. 

The Belarusian commander, who recently returned to Kyiv from the front lines, is part of a volunteer Belarusian fighting force that pledged allegiance to Ukraine in March following Russia’s deadly invasion.

Prokhorov left Belarus at the age of 18 to fight with Ukrainian forces following Russia’s first incursion in 2014.

He has since been dubbed "Kyt" which means "whale" in Ukrainian and symbolizes "great power simultaneously combined with great calmness," he explained in an interview translated by the Ukraine Frontline Media Platform. 

Though the commander – who sports a handlebar-like mustache – noted with a smile that his call sign also sounds like the word "cat" in Ukrainian.

Kyt commands over 300 Belarusian soldiers who have joined the Kastus Kalinouski ranks to fight against Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and said despite increased joint military drills agreed to by Moscow and Minsk there is little appetite for war in Belarus. 

"We need to understand that the regular troops of the Republic of Belarus are in no way ready to resist Ukraine," he told Fox News Digital. "They have no motivation.

"No money will make them go to Ukraine to return back in body bags," he added.

The commander said he believes the majority of Belarusian soldiers and civilians lack the mental preparedness to engage in war against Kyiv.

"The nation of Belarus does not support the Russian armed aggression and a full-scale invasion of Ukraine," he said, noting that openly voicing opposition to the war in which Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has supported could lead to hefty jail times. 

"Russia currently suffers colossal losses of personnel, weapons, and equipment," Kyt said. "Belarusian troops observing the situation through the internet are totally mentally unprepared."

[captain-price-unofficially]

Belarusian volunteer in Ukraine, Nov 2022

[lady-nightmare]

Google translation:

The first Polish special unit is being established in Ukraine

In Kiev, the beginning of the formation of the first Polish special unit subordinate to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was announced. Poles will perform reconnaissance and sabotage tasks. The elite unit will include the most experienced soldiers, including volunteers fighting against Russia. The Polish unit will cooperate with a similar unit composed of Russians. The Polish unit will probably be called the Polish Volunteer Legion. There are already similar units composed of Russians and Belarusians. A German unit is formed Members of non-Ukrainian special forces are subject to very strict rules. Failure to do so means immediate cancellation of the contract

On Wednesday, at 1 p.m. Polish time, a meeting took place in Kiev, during which the formation of the first special unit composed of Poles was announced. The meeting was attended by a Polish citizen who is the organizer of the unit, several Polish volunteers, the commander and chief of staff of the Russian RDK (Russian Volunteer Corps) fighting for Ukraine, and a representative of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. For security reasons, all these people remain anonymous.

The unit will not be part of the International Legion for Territorial Defense of Ukraine, in which Polish volunteers have so far fought side by side with volunteers from other countries, performing frontline tasks. It will be a special unit independent of this legion, reporting directly to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

Probably our unit will be called the Polish Volunteer Legion. It is organized by an undisclosed Polish citizen, who has been fighting Russia in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion. The organized unit will not be a typical frontline unit, like those in an international legion, but will be engaged in reconnaissance and diversion.

There are already two similar units composed of foreigners in Ukraine. These are the RDK and the BDK (Belarusian Volunteer Corps) composed of Russians fighting for Ukraine. Each of these formations consists of several dozen soldiers. The Polish unit will be the third of its kind and may initially consist of a similar number of people. Simultaneously with the Polish unit, a similar German unit is being formed.

Volunteers aspiring to the Polish unit will be selected on the basis of selection conducted by specialists from Poland and Ukraine. The basic condition for admission to the selection is military training and no problems with alcohol or drugs. Polish members of the unit are planning to create a recruitment center in Poland. This has not yet been agreed with the Polish authorities.

The unit's base will be located in an undisclosed location in the Kiev region. The makeshift headquarters is already operating under conditions of secrecy. A number of volunteers are already preparing for combat operations. Some of them have participated in some reconnaissance and sabotage activities during the current war.

A contact website or phone number for Poles who would like to enlist in the unit will be made public in the coming days.

The Polish unit will largely be modeled on the Russian RDK unit, which is the most experienced of the units of the same profile and enjoys a very good combat reputation. There is an iron discipline in that unit. For example, arms or drug trafficking is treated as desertion there. On the part of the Ukrainian army, such behavior results in an immediate termination of the contract.

Members of non-Ukrainian units are aware that volunteers from foreign formations are subject to extremely strict rules, because every scandal with foreign soldiers is carefully used by Russian propaganda.

The Russians from the RDK declared that they would be fully involved in helping to form the Polish unit as soon as possible. Also at the level of the first joint actions, the Russians declare cooperation and support. Over time, the Polish unit will gain more and more independence.

Both formations - as well as the Belarusian and German units - are also focused on cooperation and joint training, also after each of them becomes independent units. They also provide for the support of specialists in various actions. A representative of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine said that the transfer of military books to Poles and thus the final formalization of the unit can take place very quickly, even within a week or two. — It is much easier with Poles than with Belarusians or Russians who come from countries that are hostile to us. In the case of Poles, all procedures work much faster - he said.

The formation of these national units is based on the natural willingness of soldiers to fight in groups with their compatriots - said the commander of the Russian RDK unit, explaining such a structure of units, he added: - We Russians have gone through the hardest way to be able to fight in this war. I am a citizen of the Russian Federation. If I managed to create such a unit, it will be much easier for Poles.

It is extremely important to me that I was given the opportunity to form the first Polish special unit in Ukraine - said the Polish organizer of the unit. - Poland is the country that supports Ukraine the most, which is why I am particularly proud that I was given this role. I am sure that our unit will be a model for other similar formations.

[cyberbenb]

Media: Wagner continues to recruit new fighters

The Wagner Group continues to recruit new mercenaries, the independent Russian news outlet Important Stories reported on Aug. 2, citing their investigative research.

The unnamed journalist found Telegram channels where Wagner volunteers reported that the private military company plans to resume recruitment in August.

This is despite the group’s own claim on July 30 that it had “indefinitely” suspended recruitment of new members as it possesses sufficiently “large personnel reserves.”

As part of the investigation, the journalist posed as being interested in joining the group, and was told by a veteran representative in Novosibirsk that Wagner recruitment takes place on Fridays. The representative claimed that recruitment was only paused during the armed “rebellion” in June.

The veteran representative also told the journalist that he would only be recruited to join the group if he had a passport, as “the main direction of recruitment is African countries."

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko allegedly helped broker a deal for Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and his troops to relocate to Belarus after their uprising in late June stopped short of reaching Moscow.

While the details of the deal remain undisclosed, the group announced on July 2 that it had suspended recruitment of new members in Russia for a month. The Russian Defense Ministry said later that it had confiscated thousands of pieces of military equipment from Wagner, including tanks, armored vehicles, and other heavy hardware.

Minsk subsequently confirmed that Wagner fighters are present in Belarus to provide training support to the Belarusian military.

Ukraine’s National Resistance Center reported on July 27 that the paramilitary organization is recruiting fighters in Belarus under the condition that they are ready to participate in hostilities in Poland and Lithuania.

The redeployment of Wagner mercenaries to Belarus has alarmed eastern members of NATO. The Polish military began to reinforce its eastern border, and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned that the Wagner Group fighters could infiltrate Poland to conduct a “hybrid attack on Polish territory."

However, the White House said on Aug. 1 that the group poses no direct threat to NATO and that some Wagner fighters have moved to Africa in an attempt to “increase instability” in  countries there.

Russia’s influence on Africa exaggerated, experts say

When Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, it received nearly universal condemnation for its aggression. Yet, while most Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia, most African states were mute. Many African countries chose to remain silent on the war – and became a major destinat…

The Kyiv IndependentAnna Romandash

[mariacallous]

There was an atmosphere of nervous excitement in the offices of the Belarusian opposition in Vilnius and Warsaw late June as Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin rebelled against the Kremlin elite and marched on Moscow. It seemed that troubles inside Russia might keep President Vladimir Putin preoccupied and leave his ally in Minsk to fend for himself. 

For the first time in three years, since Aleksandr Lukashenko allegedly rigged the elections and forced opposition leaders into exile, there was cautious hope that they may find the chance they were looking for to launch an uprising, depose the autocrat, and usher in democratic governance. 

 “We thought that this could develop into the X hour—when the window of opportunity for our victory opens again,” Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled leader of the democratic opposition, wrote to Foreign Policy in an email. Tsikhanouskaya quickly reached out to all pro-democracy Belarusian representatives, including “the Belarusian volunteer units in the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” she said.

“We were feeling so motivated,” added Pavel Latushka, her deputy and former Belarusian minister of culture, from Warsaw. “We convened a meeting of the transitional cabinet on Zoom,” he said over the phone, and pulled out the Peramoga, or Victory Plan—which lays out the steps to overthrow Lukashenko. 

“Tens of thousands of activists would go to places they needed to and start their activities,” encouraging hundreds of thousands of others to join en masse, he said, alluding to large-scale protests including sabotage actions. 

But the exhilaration was short-lived. Their hopes were quashed, once again, by Lukashenko himself, who mediated between Putin and Prigozhin on June 24 and brought the Russian mutiny to an anticlimactic end. He played statesman, a loyal ally, and in his usual braggadocious manner relayed details of how he advised the Russian president against executing Prigozhin. 

“I said to Putin: ‘Yes we could take him out, it wouldn’t be a problem, if it doesn’t work the first time then it would the second,” he bragged to Belarusian security officials while sharing selected chunks of his conversation with the Russian president. “I told him: ‘Don’t do it, because afterwards there will be no negotiations and these guys will be ready to do anything.’” 

Lukashenko will perhaps never stop boasting about saving the day for the Kremlin, but Belarusian politicians and analysts believe his intervention was rooted in self-interest. He hoped to further a long-nurtured ambition or at the very least ensure his own survival as Belarus’s president. 

Lukashenko understands that instability in Russia would spill over to Belarus and strengthen democratic forces at home threatening his rule. Some say he owes his survival to Putin, who assured him of military reinforcements amid mass protests in 2020 and sent him a billion and a half dollars in a loan to strengthen his position. If and when the democratic forces rise again, Lukashenko knows he has only one ally. But protecting Wagner from Putin’s wrath and allowing it to base in Belarus, analysts said, opened up other opportunities, too, including partnering with Wagner in its resource loot in Africa and using the mercenaries as an extra tier of personal security at home. 

“On the day of the mutiny in Russia, he tried to help his senior partner, his boss, to pay him back and show his loyalty,” Pavel Slunkin, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and a former Belarusian diplomat, told Foreign Policy on a visit to Brussels. Slunkin believes that contrary to Lukashenko’s claims, he was merely Putin’s messenger and not a negotiator on equal footing. 

While there are varied interpretations of how big a part Lukashenko actually played in bringing the Russian mutiny to an end, there is a consensus that he was directly involved.

“Putin was about to obliterate Wagner, but several hours later there is an agreement that Prigozhin will go to Belarus, and no one even touches him,” said Yauheni Preiherman, the founder and director of the Minsk Dialogue Council on International Relations. “Lukashenko did exercise his agency.” 

Since brokering the deal, Lukashenko’s popularity inside Russia has skyrocketed. According to a poll by Levada Center on July 1, a week after he brokered the deal, Lukashenko was the second most popular politician in Russia, after the Russian president. For a man who wanted the top job in Russia, such high popularity could be a reason for strife with his patron. Yet Lukashenko has played a bold game. 

A firm believer in the Soviet Union, Lukashenko rose from humble beginnings—from a deputy chairman of a collective farm to the position of president. In 1999, when he agreed to the treaty to form the Union State of Russia and Belarus, a supranational union, he had hoped he would become the president of the Russian Federation and Belarus. But in the end, former Russian President Boris Yeltsin chose Putin as his successor.

“I have met this guy many times, and I can tell you what he is thinking—he still wants to be the president,” of the Russian Federation and Belarus, Latushka said. “Over the last month, Lukashenko has met many governors of the Russian region,” Latushka claimed. “Now he has created maximum support in Russian society, especially among the elite, and he is sending the message ‘I am your guy,’ he is playing his own game.”

But while Lukashenko wants to lead a combined Russian and Belarusian state, he doesn’t want Putin to merge the two, rendering him jobless. He has been skeptical that Putin might one day unseat him and has at times made overtures toward the West. 

Artyom Shraibman, a Belarusian scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said Russian attacks on Georgia and Crimea unsettled Lukashenko, who feared Belarus could be next. However, during every election, he has turned to Moscow’s assurances to curb dissent and stay in his chair. 

“When Russia attacked Georgia in 2008, he started to flirt with the West. Then elections came in 2010, and Lukashenko cracked down on protesters. That froze relations with the West,” Shraibman said. “In 2015, relations with the West started to normalize again, and he started to release political prisoners. That was after Russia annexed Crimea. But then there was another election in 2020 with far greater public mobilization and bigger protests.” Again, Lukashenko cracked down on protesters with Putin’s backing and relations with the West collapsed, Shraibman added. 

Putin needs Lukashenko, too. As he invaded Ukraine, he banked on his only ally in the region to station Russian troops and threaten the West that he would move Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus that shares a border with NATO states. But Lukashenko is by far more dependent on Putin’s goodwill, which he may have risked with his recent bluster. At first Putin thanked his Belarusian counterpart, but later seemed to downplay his role by crediting Russian security forces with stopping a “civil war.” 

Furthermore, in an insult, even Wagner seems to have rejected Lukashenko’s proposal. A day after he offered refuge to Wagner fighters, he tried to sell the idea to Belarusians, vehemently opposed to hosting the mercenaries, as beneficial to the Belarusian army. “They will tell us about weapons,” he said, “which worked well, and which didn’t. And tactics, how to attack, how to defend.” Belarusian news agency Belta quoted Lukashenko on its Telegram channel confirming Prigozhin’s arrival. “I see that Prigozhin is already flying on this plane. Yes, indeed, he is in Belarus today,” he said. 

In an attempt to show his readiness to host Wagner, Lukashenko allowed the independent press to see thousands of tents erected in an unused military base. But two weeks after he brokered the deal they lie vacant, and Wagner fighters, along with their chief, are in Russia trying to strike a deal with the Russian president. 

The Kremlin confirmed that more than 30 Wagner commanders met Putin on June 29 and presented their version of what transpired over June 23 and 24. They underscored that they are staunch supporters and soldiers of the head of state and the commander-in-chief” and wish to continue to “fight for their homeland,” in Ukraine. Putin has offered them “options for further employment and further use in combat,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. 

As Putin scrambled to contain the rebellion, Lukashenko found a moment to shine and prove his relevance. But the challenge to Putin has also boosted the morale of Belarusian opposition. The mutiny has exposed Putin’s invincibility as “an illusion,” Tsikhanouskaya said. “Lukashenko will not last even a day without Putin.” 

“Belarus is boiling, and the only way to keep the lid on is by increasing repression,” she said, adding that there are more than 5,000 political prisoners in Belarus, with only a third officially recognized—including her husband. “But at one point, this won’t work anymore, and the lid will blow off.”

[kragnir]

I agree that there is no need for a large army to invade Belarus to be successful. A brigade or two, max, and one week, max, and Belarus is free of cockroaches, nukes, and Lukashenkovites.