Draft:Ukrainian volunteers in Bosnia: Difference between revisions

Military unit

Ukrainian Volunteers refers to citizens of Ukraine who participated in the Bosnian War (1992–1995) on the side of the Bosnian Serb forces. Ukrainian volunteers served within various VRS units, including mixed foreign volunteer detachments composed of fighters from several Eastern European countries.

It is known that a Ukrainian from Kharkov fought in the RDO-2, his name is Vladimir, and his call sign is “Doctor”, it is also known that he fought near Višegrad in 1993. Another, but the most famous volunteer from Ukraine in the RDO is Sergey Mironchuk. He arrived in Bosnia in early 1995. He fought in the special unit of the Sarajevo-Romanian Corps “White Wolves”, but fought together with the RDO-3. His subsequent fate was very tragic: during the offensive of the Bosnian Muslims, Sergey and his Serb comrade were captured. The Serb was exchanged, but Sergey was left behind, where he was brutally murdered by the Bosnians.^[1]

About 1,000 Ukrainians fought in the ranks of the VRS, mostly ethnic Ukrainians from Bosnia. It is known that local Ukrainians from Prnjavor and Prijedor actively joined the ranks of the Army of the Republic of Srpska.^[2] One of the streets in the Ratkovac Municipality, Prnjavor Municipality, Republika Srpska, was named after Ukrainian Josyf Pavlovich Stupyak by order of the Prnjavor Assembly in 2016.
21-year-old Josyf fought in the VRS and died in battle.
At the unveiling of the plaque, Josyf’s father Pavlo said that this gesture by the authorities is important for his parents and
“It means that they have not forgotten us, and this is a big thing.”^[3]

A fighter with the call sign “Skipper” wrote in Dmitry Korchinsky’s book about the organization of Serbian formations in the Yugoslav Wars (written before 1999, therefore includes formations on the territory of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the JNA), as well as about standard weapons.^[4] From 5 to 10 UNA-UNSO fighters fought in Sarajevo. Yuriy Pasichnyk, a UNA-UNSO fighter in the VRS and call sign “Zholnezh,” describes his memories of the wars in Transnistria, Georgia, Chechnya, and Bosnia. In these memories, he recalls meeting 300 of his fellow countrymen.^[5] In the book “Sacrifice: Where Does a Guy Get His Serbian Sadness?” by Mikhail Polikarpov, it is written:
Rumors occasionally circulate about UNA-UNSO fighters fighting on the Croatian side. I came across an amusing, yet tragic, incident. In November 1994, somewhere near the town of Titov-Dvar, a group of UNA-UNSO fighters was fighting on the Serbian side. Several other fighters were nearby, but on the other side of the front, on the Croatian side. The leadership decided to use Bosnia as a “training ground” to gain combat experience.^[6]