Ukrainian prisoners of war and defectors have been gathered into a Russian battalion to face Ukrainian forces — why? And how?

Pavlo Oliynyk, 25, says he joined enemy forces to escape Russian captivity . Before his capture in the Donbas region in 2024, he was a senior lieutenant for Ukraine 's armed forces. As a prisoner of war (POW), he says he was electrocuted, beaten, and psychologically tortured. So when he received the offer to join the Maksym Kryvonis battalion — named after a famous 17th-century Cossack commander — he accepted. Oliynyk says he wanted to use this opportunity to reach the front lines, so he could escape to Ukrainian-controlled territory. DW was able to contact Oliynyk through his lawyer. Reports of Russian combat units consisting of Ukrainian prisoners of war and former servicemembers of Ukraine's armed forces began emerging in late 2022.