Russian authorities coerce Ukrainian POWs into joining ‘volunteer’ formation – ISW

The relevant statement was made by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“Russian state media reported on October 27 that the ‘Bogdan Khmelnitsky’ volunteer battalion ‘recruited’ roughly 70 Ukrainian POWs from various Russian penal colonies, has begun training, and will deploy to an unspecified area of the front line upon completion of training,” the report states.

The analysts emphasized that coercing POWs into combat would be a violation of the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War, which stipulates that “no prisoner of war may at any time be sent to or detained in areas where he may be exposed to the fire of the combat zone” and shall not “be employed on labor which is of an unhealthy or dangerous nature.”

A reminder that, between February 24, 2022 and October 28, 2023, Russia’s total combat losses in Ukraine reached about 298,420 troops.