Western Batalion of Kalinoŭski Regiment

We are professional idealists. We believe in the self determination of Ukrainians and all peoples. This includes our brothers and sisters fighting alongside us in the Litvin and Volat Battalions. We are not a political organization and have no overarching political views other than the right for the Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples to live free from the oppression of Vladimir Putin and countless other Russian and Soviet tyrants.

All soldiers from our fighting elements served within professional and well-regarded militaries prior to coming to Ukraine. For front line soldiers, we do not accept people without prior military experience.

This is not born from any sense of elitism, but rather our collective understanding that to win and survive a war takes years of training and experience we cannot offer in a wartime environment. While many of our soldiers have extensive combat experience here, and in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, we more value the training and professionalism that our soldiers gleaned while in their home militaries. We know that that is more the key to winning than having simply been shelled or shot at before.

With that prior professional experience also comes a range of experience outside actual combat operations or even training for such combat operations. The most important traits are ethics and discipline. We take all reports of misconduct and violation of the law incredibly seriously. We encourage all of our soldiers to report misconduct at any and all levels. In return, we respect all of our soldiers and leadership positions are earned.

We’re not special forces and we’re not war tourists. We’re simply soldiers – professionals.