The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has explained that the current organizational changes within the Aidar territorial-defense battalion will not affect its personnel but aim to reinforce the military unit.
“The organizational changes currently occurring in the Aidar defense battalion will by no means affect its personnel. To accomplish special missions, the Aidar territorial-defense battalion will be additionally reinforced and its troops given the necessary gear,” the ministry’s spokesperson said.
The changes will only affect the military unit’s number and its seal, the spokesperson said. “This is to prevent abuse of the seal and the documents, which were lost earlier and could become a tool of fraud of certain individuals,” the spokesperson said.
As regards the protests outside the defense ministry’s building in Povitroflotsky Avenue in Kyiv, the spokesperson said that the Aidar fighters continue their heroic service in the military-operation zone in Donbas and have nothing to do with these protests.
“The protests are first and foremost an attempt by former battalion leaders to avoid responsibility for the abuses that were exposed during an internal inquiry by military police specialists. Those battalion fighters, who are taking part in the protests, have quit their posts voluntarily and are in fact staying outside the base illegally,” the spokesperson said.
“The active fighters of the battalion are not supporting the provocative rally outside the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and were not present there because they are in the combat zone,” the spokesperson said.
On Feb. 2 several dozen people in army fatigues blocked traffic opposite the car entrance to the grounds of the defense ministry. Aidar battalions were among the protestors.
