The Krym Battalion (; ) is a Crimean Tatar

military volunteer A military volunteer (or ''war volunteer'') is a person who enlists in military service by free will, and is not a conscript, mercenary, or a foreign volunteers, foreign legionnaire. Volunteers sometimes enlist to fight Foreign volunteers, in th ...

unit subordinated to the

Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine (; ; ) is the Ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian government that oversees the interior affairs of Ukraine. History Name *People's Committee of Internal ...

. Created in June 2014, until March 2015, it participated in anti-terrorist operations in Eastern Ukraine as part of a company of the

Special Tasks Patrol Police The Special Police Forces () is a Ukrainian volunteer corps of law enforcement units, part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. History In April 2014, Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov issued an order to create battali ...

unit

Dnipro-1 The "Dnipro-1" Regiment () is a Special Tasks Patrol Police of Ukraine, Special Tasks Patrol Police regiment subordinated to Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. The regiment is based in Dnipro. The Dnipro-1 was one the first official Ukrai ...

. The battalion is based in

Kherson Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...

. On November 12, 2014, the President of Ukraine,

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...

, and the leader of the Crimean Tatar national movement,

Mustafa Dzhemilev Mustafa Abduldzhemil Jemilev (, ), also known widely with his adopted descriptive surname Qırımoğlu "Son of Crimea" ( Crimean Tatar Cyrillic: , ; born 13 November 1943, Ay Serez, Crimea), is the former chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean T ...

, announced the reformation of the Crimean Tatar company into a battalion. In March 2022, it joined the

International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine The International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine, or the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, is a military unit of the Ukrainian Ground Forces composed of foreign volunteers. It was created on 27 February 2022 by the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian ...

while still being a part of Dnipro-1 Regiment.

History

Formation

On April 14, 2014, then head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine,

Arsen Avakov Arsen Borysovych Avakov (, ; born 2 January 1964) is a Ukrainian politician of Armenian descent who served as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine from 2014 to 2021. He was the Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration from ...

, signed an order on the creation of regional special units of the special police patrol service (ПСМОП), subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, based on civilian organizations. In a short period of time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs formed 30 volunteer battalions and companies of the special police patrol service with a total number of 5,660 people in different regions of Ukraine. But at the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Ukraine in the

Autonomous Republic of Crimea The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is a ''de jure'' administrative division of Ukraine encompassing most of Crimea that was unilaterally annexed by Russia in 2014. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea occupies most of the peninsula,Dmytro Yarosh Dmytro Anatoliiovych Yarosh (; born 30 September 1971) is a Ukrainian activist, politician, nationalist and military commander who is the main commander of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army. From 2013 to 2015, he led the Right Sector nationalist o ...

wrote on social media about the creation of a Crimean Tatar battalion under the auspices of the

Right Sector Right Sector () is a loosely defined coalition of right-wing to far-right Ukrainian nationalist organizations. It originated in November 2013 as a right-wing, paramilitary confederation of several ultranationalist organizations at the Euroma ...

to wage a partisan struggle on the peninsula. This project of Yarosh was not implemented. In mid-June 2014,

Semen Semenchenko Semen Ihorovych Semenchenko (; born 6 June 1974) is a former deputy to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on National Security and Defence and the commander-founder of the Donbas ...

, the commander of the newly created

Donbas Battalion The Donbas Battalion () is a unit of the National Guard of Ukraine under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and formerly based in Severodonetsk. It was created in 2014 as a Ukrainian volunteer battalions, volunteer unit () by Semen Semen ...

of the

National Guard of Ukraine The National Guard of Ukraine (NGU; , ; /NHU ) is the Ukrainian national gendarmerie and internal military force. It is part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, responsible for public security. Originally created as an agency under the dire ...

tried to overcome bureaucratic obstacles. He announced a plan to form a "Krym Battalion" of the National Guard as part of a future Independent National Guard Brigade «Donbas».

Combat

As part of an Independent "Crimean company" of the

Dnipro-1 Regiment The "Dnipro-1" Regiment () is a Special Tasks Patrol Police of Ukraine, Special Tasks Patrol Police regiment subordinated to Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. The regiment is based in Dnipro. The Dnipro-1 was one the first official Ukrai ...

, volunteers took part in the

Battle in Shakhtarsk Raion The Battle in Shakhtarsk Raion began on 16 July 2014, when the Armed Forces of Ukraine attempted to cut off the Russian backed separatists’ supply lines from Russia. Fighting broke out around the towns of Marynivka, Dmytrivka, Stepanivka ...

and the

Battle of Ilovaisk The Battle of Ilovaisk started on 7 August 2014, when the Armed Forces of Ukraine and pro-Ukrainian paramilitaries began a series of attempts to capture the city of Ilovaisk from pro-Russian insurgents affiliated with the Donetsk People's Rep ...

, where they were surrounded. "Crimea" fighters reached Ilovaisk on August 19–20, when the threat of encirclement was already hanging over the volunteer battalions. On August 29, the head of Sector "B" (Сектор "Б"), General

Ruslan Khomchak Ruslan Borysovych Khomchak (; born 5 June 1967) is a Ukrainian Colonel-general who serves as the First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and formerhttps://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/758177.html Valer ...

, gave the command to withdraw from the encirclement with a retreat in two columns. "Crimea" fighters moved in a column of the "Dnipro-1" battalion. In the area of the village of Chabany, near

Starobesheve Starobesheve (; ) is a rural settlement in Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine. The town is located on the right bank of the river Kalmius, about northwest of the internationally recognized border with Russia. Population: History In the Russian Em ...

, they came under fire, after which they broke through the encirclement in small groups. On August 30–31, reports about their breakthrough appeared in the press and social networks. During the escape from encirclement, the personnel of the «Krym» Battalion experienced losses.

Current status

Mustafa Dzhemilev said that as of mid-November 2014, about 450 Crimean Tatars defended the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine in the ATO zone

References

{{War in Donbas Crimea in the Russo-Ukrainian War Donetsk Oblast in the Russo-Ukrainian War Military units and formations established in 2014 2014 establishments in Ukraine Crimean Tatars