Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion

KKB members, among them Dzyanis Urbanovich, pose for a picture on March 8, 2022.

The first foreign volunteer group in Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War was the Pahonia detachment, founded in 2014 during the War in Donbas.[7] The following year, the tactical group "Belarus" was formed uniting Belarusian volunteers fighting in different battalions[8] The Monument to the Belarusians who died for Ukraine in Kyiv is dedicated to the Belarusian volunteers who died during the Russian-Ukrainian War.[9]

On March 9, 2022, the creation of the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion was announced.[10] The battalion is named after Kastuś Kalinoŭski, a 19th-century Belarusian leader of the 1863 January Uprising against the Russian Empire.[4] It was reported that as of 5 March 2022, about 200 Belarusians had joined the battalion.[11][12] Their motto is: ‘First Ukraine, then Belarus.’ The idea that the volunteers could turn around one day and march back to liberate Minsk from the Lukashenka regime.[13]

On 13 March 2022, the battalion announced its first casualty, Aliaksiej Skoblia.[14]

The battalion has been featured on public posters in Kyiv to illustrate Ukrainian-Belarusian military ties.[15]

On 25 March 2022, it was reported the battalion had taken an oath and has been formally admitted to the Ukrainian military.[16] On 29 March 2022, Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion volunteers fought alongside Ukrainian soldiers to recapture Irpin.[17]

On 1 April 2022, it was reported that thousands of volunteers — many of whom were dissidents who had been arrested following the 2020-2021 Belarusian protests — had applied to be members of the battalion, but that vetting and equipping these volunteers had created a backlog that slowed down their deployment.[18]

The creation of the battalion was endorsed by Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who noted that "more and more people from Belarus join to help Ukrainians defend their country".[19][20] President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, called the volunteers "crazed citizens".[14]

On March 26, Deputy Head of the GUBOPiK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus Mikhail Bedunkevich stated that a criminal case had been instituted in Belarus against 50 people from the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion for participating in an armed conflict in a foreign state.[21]

• Vadzim Kabanchuk, undersecretary battalion commander, one of the founders of the civic youth organization Zubr[22]
• Aliaksiej Skoblia
• Pavel Shurmei, a former Belarusian Olympic rower and world record holder.[23][24]
• Dzyanis Urbanovich, chairman of the Young Front[25]

On 13 March 2022, the deputy commander of the battalion, nicknamed “Tur” (real name Aliaksiej Skoblia), was confirmed killed in the Kyiv Offensive when his unit was ambushed.[14][26] On 13 April 2022, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy posthumously awarded Skoblia the title of "Hero of Ukraine" - "for personal courage and heroism in defending the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, loyalty to the military oath."[27][28]

On 24 March 2022, Dzmitry Apanasovich was killed during fighting in Irpin.[17]

• Tactical group "Belarus"

• Media related to Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion at Wikimedia Commons
• Official Telegram channel