I continue my story about the volunteer units of the Ukrainian power structures - the so-called volunteer battalions. And today we will talk about the "Donbass" battalion. I want to say right away: during my service in the Security Council of Ukraine and business trips to the ATO, I did not have to personally encounter this unit, but I have enough reliable information about its activities.

The choice of the "Donbass" battalion for today's replica is due to the fact that it is the second after the Kulchytsky battalion, the Dobrobat of the National Guard of Ukraine.

I will continue to try to systematize my remarks, gradually talking about the units tied to one or another government department. So - the "Donbass" battalion.

The history of this unit is inextricably linked with its founder - Konstantin Grishin, who became widely known under the pseudonym Semyon Semenchenko. It should be noted that Grishin himself got used to the pseudonym so much that he has not even called himself by his real name for a long time. In April 2014, Konstantin Grishin made the first attempts to create a volunteer unit in Dnepropetrovsk from among the residents of the Donetsk region, which had to resist the so-called. separatist manifestations of the Donbass population. The then governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region Igor Kolomoisky helped Grishin in this. It is worth noting that the unit carried out its first operations while not being an official unit of the security forces, i.e. in fact - being an illegal paramilitary formation.

Throughout May 2014, the Donbass battalion carried out several actions in the Volodarsky, Dobropolsky, Velikonovoselkovsky and Krasnoarmeysky districts of the Donetsk region. It is noteworthy that it was then that the battalion suffered its first serious losses: on May 23, 2014 in the settlement of Karlovka Dobrobat was ambushed by the Vostok unit of the Donbass militia. Then "Donbass" lost 5 people killed, several dozen wounded, and a number of soldiers were taken prisoner. It is noteworthy that Semyon Semenchenko then erupted with a formidable post on Facebook, in which he addressed the militia fighters, noting that "if something happens to our people, there will be terror in the city itself." Even then, the activities of the "Donbass" battalion were constantly accompanied by information about the crimes committed by its fighters.

For example, it was reported that in the Velikonovoselkovsky district, the battalion was engaged in the expropriation of the property of Viktor Yanukovych's close associates, took people hostage and fired at civilians. On May 29, 2014, Semenchenko agreed with the proposal of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov to create the National Guard of Ukraine (NSU) on the basis of the Donbass special forces battalion. Only in July 2014, the unit switched to civil service and was reorganized into the operational battalion "Donbass" of the National Guard of Ukraine, controlled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

It should be noted that at the time of the summer of 2014, Donbass was probably the most popular volunteer unit. This was largely due to the efforts of Semenchenko, who spoke at the so-called. "People's veche" on the Maidan, met with Turchinov and Avakov, constantly appeared in various nationalist media. Semenchenko's Facebook was actually a virtual journal of military operations, through which it was possible to follow the events in the ATO zone.

In August 2014, the Donbass battalion, along with other volunteer units, took part in the battles in Ilovaisk. During the fighting, the dobrobat suffered serious losses, and a significant number of volunteers were captured by the militia - even 98 people were named. In total, as of October 2014, according to Semenchenko himself, “Donbass” lost 52 people killed and 120 wounded. After Ilovaisk, the unit was reorganized at the training grounds of the National Guard.

In January-February 2015, the battalion was already actively participating in hostilities in Debaltseve and Shirokino, where it also suffered losses. By that time, Semyon Semenchenko competently used the accumulated information capital, becoming a People's Deputy of Ukraine. At this time, a serious split was brewing in the unit - many volunteers openly accused Semenchenko of simply using the battalion's merits for personal gain. It got to the point that during the gathering of the unit at the training ground of the National Guard in N of the item. New Petrivtsi in January 2015, soldiers and officers openly expressed their distrust to the newly made People's Deputy.

As a result, in 2015, the Donbass National Guard unit was disbanded. From among the servicemen of the battalion, the 46th separate special-purpose battalion "Donbass-Ukraine" of the armed forces was created, which is currently part of the 54th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a separate battalion. Until now, he is staffed exclusively by volunteers, continuing to be a virtuous person in the literal sense of the word. Throughout the existence of the battalion, its fighters were repeatedly accused of various crimes. Including torture, extrajudicial killings, looting, kidnapping.

After the fighting in Ilovaisk, mass graves of local residents killed by the Dobrobat fighters were discovered at the site of the Donbass battalion. Even international organizations paid attention to the crimes of the Donbass fighters. For example, the 16th report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner documents cases of battalion members being involved in kidnapping.

Thus, it is noted that in the period from August to November 2014, there were three separate cases of taking civilians hostage. The captured were taken to the battalion base in Pokrovsk, subjected to ill-treatment and torture in order to obtain ransom. In the 14th report of the Office of the UN High Commissioner, a case of gang rape by soldiers of the Azov and Donbass battalions of a mentally disabled person is described.

According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner, as of February 4, 2015, 26 criminal cases were initiated against the personnel of the Ukrainian battalions "Aydar" and "Donbass", related to violation of human rights, illegal imprisonment and imprisonment of people. And this is only a small part of what the soldiers of this battalion actually did.

The real list of the crimes committed by them, I am sure, would take more than one page.