The members of the battalion took an oath and became part of Ukraine’s armed forces.
Foreign fighters from Belarus have officially joined Ukraine’s military to take on the Russian counterparts as Moscow’s invasion has entered into its 31st day on Saturday, according to a report.
In a video, shared by The Kyiv Independent, the battalion can be seen taking an oath to Belarus. The Belarusian language is endangered as the regime of dictator Alexander Lukashenko allegedly favours Russian and discriminates against Belarusian speakers, who are already a minority, the report claimed.
Named after Kastus Kalinouski, Belarusian 19th century writer and revolutionary, the members took an oath and became part of Ukraine’s armed forces.
Earlier, reports suggested that the foreign fighters from Belarus had departed on Wednesday on their way to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv from the city of Lviv further west to fight in the ongoing war against Russia
“We will fight for the independence of Ukraine. Because, we know very well that if Ukraine isn’t independent, Belarus won’t be independent in the future,” said Pavel Kulazhanka, who is heading the group.
Kulazhanka emphasised that, unlike Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko, they would stand with the Ukrainians.
Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for the last 28 years with no interruption in power, is supporting Russia in the war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is using Belarus as a staging ground for his war. Russian troops have crossed into Ukraine through the Belarusian border in the north.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has again appealed to Russia to negotiate an end to the war, but says Ukraine would not agree to give up any of its territory for the sake of peace.
In his nightly video address to the nation on Friday, Zelenskyy appeared to be responding to Colonel Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, who said Russian forces would now focus on “the main goal, the liberation of Donbas.”
Russian-backed separatists have controlled part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine since 2014, and Russian forces have been battling to seize more of the region from Ukraine, including the besieged city of Mariupol.