Belarusian Volunteers Hold Founding Congress In Chernihiv, Ukraine 7 15.08.2016, 14:46

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The Belarusians fighting for Ukraine united and plan to set up a military unit.

It still remains unknown just how many Belarusians are fighting in the anti-terrorist operation on Ukraine’s side. Numbers like several hundred to a thousand or more have been worded, but no precise statistics exists even in the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, Radio Racyja reports.

For the last two years, our countrymen who fight for Ukraine have been disunited, it’s only now they decided to hold a founding congress of the Belarusian military men. The congress took place in Chernihiv, close to Belarus.

Siarhei Bahukalets, the ethnic Belarusian from Chernihiv, the participant of the Luhansk airport defense operation in the squad of the First Tank Corps:

- Our far-reaching mission is to create a military unit, staffed with Belarusians. It happened so that we failed to create such unit by ourselves in two years. So far, all Belarusians are scattered in different units and have no coordination center of their own. Yesterday we solved this problem at last. Representatives of different voluntary units, like “Azov”, “OUN”, the “Right Sector”, as well as some military units, got together. We decided to set up the military council at this common meeting. We adopted the charter, which prescribes who will be in this council and all other issues. The information about this will soon appear on the internet, most likely, at the website of the tactical group “Belarus”. I would also like to point out a very important moment. Our organization is created not under some “specific person” or as some political project, which we specified by a separate claim in our charter. Five people will head the council of the Belarusian warriors, and none of them will have a right to represent us solely. We count on the support of the Ukrainian government, Ukrainian church, and the volunteer movements.

Yan Melnikau, the Belarusian volunteer, the Ukrainian Volunteer Army:

- There are Belarusians everywhere: in the regular units of the Ukrainian armed forces, in the National Guard, in many voluntary formations. The same Belarusian volunteers have been and are fighting practically throughout the whole territory where the anti-terrorist operation is being held. Our guys defended the Donetsk airport, Peski, Shyrokino, Avdeivka. Just like the people of other nationalities, not only the Ukrainians: for example, the Chechens and the Georgians. However, due to the criminal cases started against the volunteers, our guys do not really tend to contact with the countrymen, and quite mistrust the perspective of unification. Still, we have a common aim: free Ukraine and free Belarus. We all realize that what is now happening in the East of Ukraine is not just the Russia-Ukraine conflict. There is a threat to the whole civilized world, the whole Europe. That is why we should fight together.

The volunteer with a covername “Zubr”:

- Of course we plan to obtain an official status. Probably, we will get registration in several countries, not just here. If our military council grows strength and gets support of a large circle of people – maybe we will consider the issue of our possible return to Belarus. Our countrymen who are fighting in the anti-terrorist operation are traditionally supported by the democratic forces both inside Belarus and abroad. Zianon Pazniak was among those who praised the congress of the Belarusian voluntary soldiers.