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Aidar Battalion Template:Lang-uk
Unit insignia
Active	2014–
Country	Ukraine
Allegiance	Ministry of Defense
Type	Battalion of Territorial Defense (BTD)
Size	<300
Motto(s)	З нами Бог "God with us"
Commanders
Notable commanders	Serhiy Melnychuk

Aidar Battalion is a Territorial Defense Battalion of Ukraine. A detachment of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, it is currently fighting in the War in Donbass. It has roughly 400 members.

History

Aidar is a Territorial Defense Battalion of Ukraine, the first of its kind to be established.

In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, its commander, Serhiy Melnychuk, became a member of the Verkhovna Rada representing the Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko; he ranked third on the party's election list. The commander of Aidar's second battalion, Ihor Lapin, is an MP for People's Front after winning a constituency seat in Lutsk in the same election. Lapin won with 24.24% of the votes in his constituency; runner up Iryna Konstankevich followed with 24.21%.

On 8 August 2014 Ukraine's Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey stated that the battalion would be reorganised, would receive better equipment and would see more combat missions.

Several dozen Aidar fighters were killed in an ambush south of Shchastya after the announcement of the ceasefire on 6 September 2014.

On 24 December 2014, Amnesty International reported that the unit is blocking humanitarian aid from Ukraine reaching the population of the separatist-controlled areas; over half the population in these areas depend on food aid. The reason the aid is being blocked by the Aidar , Donbass and Dnipro-1 battalions is that the battalions "believe food and clothing are ending up in the wrong hands and may be sold instead of being given as humanitarian aid." Denis Krivosheev, acting Director of Europe and Central Asia for Amnesty International, stated that "Using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime".

Members and structure

The Aidar Battalion consists of volunteers from Lviv, Chernihiv, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Crimea, Kiev, Ivano-Frankivsk and Donetsk regions. It includes a member of the Luhansk Oblast's legislature, a former mayor of Oleksandrivsk, and self-defense activists from the Euromaidan protests in Kiev. In June 2014, it had around 400 members.

The battalion has several subdivisions:

• Kholodnyi Yar
• Company "West"
• Afgan company
• Volyn company
• Autorota
• Golden company

Allegations of human rights violations

In July 2014, Russia began a criminal investigation of Aidar's commander, Serhiy Melnychuk, for "organizing the killing of civilians". Its volunteer pilot, Nadiya Savchenko, was captured by pro-Russian separatists near Luhansk and charged in Russia with killing two Russian journalists.

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) observers reported in August that the Battalion was responsible for two abductions in the combat zone of the War in Donbass. On 8 September 2014 Amnesty International stated that the Battalion had committed war crimes, including abductions, unlawful detention, ill-treatment, theft, extortion, and possible executions.

In September, OSCE observers reported that Shchastya citizens claimed that intoxicated soldiers of the Aidar battalion were shooting randomly in the nearby Luhansk power station.

References

1. "A Guide to Ukraine's Fighting Forces". Kyiv Post. 10 July 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
2. "Ukraine's volunteer battalions: The new model army". Ukrinform. 2014.
3. "Aidar commander: Terrorists know everything". Ukrinform. 24 June 2014.
4. "Ukraine Votes On Oct. 26 To Elect New Parliament". Kyiv Post. 24 October 2014.
5. "Poroshenko Bloc to have greatest number of seats in parliament". Ukrainian Television and Radio. 8 November 2014.
   • "People's Front 0.33% ahead of Poroshenko Bloc with all ballots counted in Ukraine elections - CEC". Interfax-Ukraine. 8 November 2014.
   • "Poroshenko Bloc to get 132 seats in parliament - CEC". Interfax-Ukraine. 8 November 2014.
6. "Повний список новообраних народних депутатів" (in Ukrainian). Televiziyna Sluzhba Novyn. 12 November 2014. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
7. "Data on vote counting at precincts within single-mandate districts". Central Election Commission of Ukraine. 26 October 2014.
   • "Одномандатный избирательный округ № 22" (in Ukrainian). RBK Ukraine. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
8. "Гелетей хоче зробити з "Айдара" регулярний спецпідрозділ". Ukrayinska Pravda (in Ukrainian). 8 August 2014. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
9. ^ "DOCUMENT - UKRAINE: ABUSES AND WAR CRIMES BY THE AIDAR VOLUNTEER BATTALION IN THE NORTH LUHANSK REGION" (Press release). Amnesty International. 8 September 2014.
10. Amnesty International, Eastern Ukraine: Humanitarian disaster looms as food aid blocked, 24 December 2014.
11. http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/eastern-ukraine-humanitarian-disaster-looms-food-aid-blocked-2014-12-24
12. Sukhov, Oleg (15 December 2014). "Diverse Aidar fighters united by goal of defending Ukraine". Kyiv Post.
13. Zinevych, Solomiya (24 June 2014). "Aydar Batallion ready to fight even as unit's future remains unclear". Kyiv Post.
14. "Moscow Court Sanctions Arrest of Ukraine Tycoon Governor Kolomoisky". The Moscow Times. 2 July 2014.
15. "Ukraine conflict: Russia charges pilot over deaths". BBC News. 9 July 2014.
16. "Russia Charges Ukrainian Pilot Savchenko Over Journalists' Deaths". NBC News. 9 July 2014.
17. "Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine based on information received as of 18:00 (Kyiv time), 21 August 2014" (Press release). Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. 22 August 2014.
18. "Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine based on information received as of 18:00 (Kyiv time), 16 September 2014" (Press release). OSCE. 17 September 2014.

External links

Media related to Aidar Battalion at Wikimedia Commons

• Territorial defence battalions of Ukraine
• History of Luhansk Oblast
• War in Donbass
• Military units and formations established in 2014
• 2014 establishments in Ukraine