In Violation of the Geneva Convention, Russia Forms New Unit from Ukrainian Prisoners of War

Russia has formed a new unit using Ukrainian prisoners of war, in direct violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

The news on new unit formation was reported on the website of the Russian Ministry of Defense’s “Volunteer Corps”.

On August 6, it became known that Russian troops had formed the “First Ukrainian Special Purpose Volunteer Brigade,” which includes Ukrainian prisoners of war and former Ukrainian servicemen who, it is claimed, defected to Russia.

The Russian military formed this brigade by merging several irregular so-called “volunteer units,” including the Maxim Kryvonos and Oleksiy Berest battalions, as well as the Alexander Matrosov, Martin Pushkar, and Slobodsky detachments.

Russian Telegram channels claim that the new unit was formed from Ukrainian prisoners of war, despite the fact that the use of prisoners of war in combat operations constitutes a war crime.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) first documented the formation of combat units by Russian forces using Ukrainian prisoners of war in November 2022.

It is known that in 2023, a Russian battalion named after Bohdan Khmelnytskyi was formed with Ukrainian prisoners of war; in December of that year, it operated as part of the Kaskad unit of the so-called DPR Ministry of Internal Affairs in western Donetsk region.

Russia’s use of Ukrainian prisoners of war in combat units constitutes a violation of the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War.

According to Article 52, it is prohibited to use prisoners of war in military operations on the side of the party that captured them, and it stipulates that “no prisoner of war may, under any circumstances, be sent or held in areas where he may be exposed to fire in a combat zone,” nor may he be “employed in work of a hazardous or dangerous nature.”