WARSAW, Poland — One is a restaurateur who fled Belarus when he realized he was about to be arrested for criticizing President Alexander Lukashenko. One other was given the selection of both denouncing fellow opposition activists or being jailed. And one is definite his brother was killed by the nation’s safety forces.
What united them is their willpower to withstand Lukashenko by preventing in opposition to Russian forces in Ukraine.
Belarusians are amongst those that have answered a name by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for international fighters to go to Ukraine and be a part of the Worldwide Legion for the Territorial Protection of Ukraine. And volunteers have answered that decision, given the excessive stakes in a battle which many individuals see as a civilizational battle pitting dictatorship in opposition to freedom.
For the Belarusians, who take into account Ukrainians a brethren nation, the stakes really feel particularly excessive. Russian troops used Belarusian territory to invade Ukraine early within the warfare, and Lukashenko has publicly stood by longtime ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, describing him as his “large brother.” Russia, for its half, has pumped billions of {dollars} into shoring up Lukashenko’s Soviet-style, state-controlled economic system with low cost vitality and loans.
Weakening Putin, the Belarusian volunteers imagine, would additionally weaken Lukashenko, who has held energy since 1994, and create a gap to topple his oppressive authorities and convey democratic change to the nation of almost 10 million individuals.
For most of the Belarusians, their base is Poland, a rustic alongside NATO’s jap flank that borders Belarus and Ukraine and which turned a haven for pro-democracy Belarusian dissidents earlier than turning into one for warfare refugees from Ukraine.
A number of the fighters are already in Poland, and a few solely go by briefly in transit on their solution to Ukraine.
“We perceive that it is a lengthy journey to free Belarus and the journey begins in Ukraine,” mentioned Vadim Prokopiev, a 50-year-old businessman who used to run eating places in Minsk. He fled the nation after a rumor unfold that he could be arrested for saying publicly that the federal government wasn’t doing sufficient for small companies.
“When the Ukraine warfare will likely be finally over, our warfare will simply begin. It’s inconceivable to free the nation of Belarus with out driving Putin’s fascist troops out of Ukraine,” he mentioned.
Prokopiev heads a unit known as “Pahonia” that in latest days has been coaching recruits. The Related Press interviewed him as he oversaw an train that concerned firing pistols and different weapons into outdated automobiles in simulations of warfare situations. They had been being educated by a Polish ex-police officer who’s now a non-public taking pictures teacher.
Prokopiev needs his males to realize vital battle expertise, and he hopes that at some point quickly a window of alternative will open for democratic change in Belarus. However he says it is going to require fighters like himself to be ready, and for members of the safety forces in Belarus to show in opposition to Lukashenko.
Huge avenue protests in opposition to a 2020 election extensively seen as fraudulent had been met with a brutal crackdown, resulting in Prokopiev’s perception that no “velvet revolution” will be anticipated there.
“Energy from Lukashenko can solely be taken by drive,” he mentioned.
On Saturday, a gaggle of males with one other unit, Kastus Kalinouski, gathered in Warsaw within the Belarus Home, the place piles of sleeping luggage, mats and different Ukraine-bound tools had been piled excessive. They sat collectively, speaking and snacking on chocolate and low as they ready to deploy to Ukraine later within the day. Most did not wish to be interviewed out of issues for his or her safety and that of household again house.
The unit, which is not formally below Ukraine’s Worldwide Legion, was named after the chief of an anti-Russian riot within the nineteenth century who’s considered as a nationwide hero in Belarus.
One prepared to explain his motivations was a 19-year-old, Ales, who has lived in Poland since final yr. He fled Belarus after the nation’s safety service, nonetheless known as the KGB, detained him and compelled him to denounce an anti-Lukashenko resistance group in a video recording. He was advised he could be jailed if he didn’t comply.
Dressed all in black from a hooded sweatshirt to his boots, he admitted to feeling nervous because the second arrived to go into Ukraine. He had by no means acquired any army coaching, however would get it as soon as he arrived in Ukraine. However simply how a lot, and the place he could be deployed, he did not but know.
He mentioned he was going to combat not solely to assist Ukraine, “however to make Belarus impartial.” He mentioned it was additionally essential for him that folks understand that the Belarusian individuals are very completely different from the Lukashenko authorities.
It’s a harmful mission, and several other of the volunteers from the Kastus Kalinouski unit have died.
Nonetheless, preventing in Ukraine can really feel much less harmful than searching for to withstand Lukashenko at house, the place many activists are in jail in harsh circumstances.
Organizing the Kastus Kalinouski recruits was Pavel Kukhta, a 24-year-old who already fought in Ukraine’s Donbas area in 2016, struggling burns and the lack of most of his listening to in a single ear. He described his unit as a regiment, that means it will have a whole lot of members, however he would not give its precise quantity.
Kukhta mentioned that his half-brother, Nikita Krivtsov, was discovered lifeless by hanging in a wooded space exterior Minsk in 2020. Police have mentioned there was no proof of foul play, however Kukhta says he and the remainder of the household are sure he was killed for becoming a member of the anti-Lukashenko protests.
However he insisted that his help for Ukraine within the warfare is just not about revenge, solely about preventing for democratic change.
“If Putin is defeated, Lukashenko will likely be defeated,” he mentioned.
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Comply with the AP’s protection of the warfare at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine