Donetsk, Feb 23 — DAN.  Some 200 Ukrainian servicemen are willing to join the Bogdan Khmelnitsky volunteer battalion which is being formed in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a source in a regional law-enforcement agency told TASS on Thursday.

“At first, it was a small unit, but surprisingly, the number of volunteers kept growing, ” the source said. “By now, some 200 POWs are ready to leave for the front as Bogdan Khmelnitsky battalion members.” 

To join the battalion, they have to bring their personal papers in conformity with Russian citizenship requirements, he added.

Earlier reports said that Ukrainian prisoners of war were being fingerprinted for Russian passports.  In late September 2022, several dozen Ukrainian gunmen who were kept at the Yelenovka penitentiary, formally asked the DPR authorities to let them join the Bogdan  Khmelnitsky battalion.*jk