Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer Corps
The Right Sector 'Ukrainian Volunteer Corps or simply the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps', was the paramilitary arm of right-wing Ukrainian nationalist party Right Sector. The Ukrainian Volunteer Corps was founded on July 17, 2014, as one of the "volunteer battalions", created as a response to the rise of pro-Russian separatism and the 2014 Russian invasion which started the War in Donbas.
They officially defined themselves as a "voluntary formation of Ukrainian citizens, Ukrainians from abroad and non-Ukrainians - citizens of other countries who share the ideology of Ukrainian nationalism and have expressed a desire to participate in the Ukrainian people's armed struggle against external and internal enemies." The Ukrainian Volunteer Corps was mostly made up of members of Right Sector, but also accepts volunteers without any party affiliations, as well as foreigners. The DUK was founded by Dmytro Yarosh—nom-de-guerre "Yastrub" —who was also the leader of Right Sector, from an irregular militia that the Right Sector formed during the Euromaidan, which patrolled the streets after the fall of the Yanukovych government. In 2015, after Yarosh's resignation, he announced the creation of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, a new paramilitary unit made up of former units of the DUK, another split also resulted in the creation of the separate Santa Unit by Volodymyr Regesh.
In July 2014, the DUK claimed to have 5,000 troops. The group was involved in combat during the war in Donbas and later in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Most of the Ukrainian volunteer battalions were later integrated by the Ukrainian government into either the Ukrainian Ground Forces or the Ukrainian National Guard, but the DUK was one of the few that remained autonomous. This changed with the 2022 invasion, when they were formally absorbed in the Ground Forces as a special operations unit. In November 2022, the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps was reformed as the 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade "DUK", and were training in the United Kingdom. In April 2024, the 67th Brigade was completely reformed, as soldiers and commanders from the old Ukrainian Volunteer Corps were transferred to other units of the Ground Forces due alleged preferential treatment of Right Sector members, which led to repeated losses in Chasiv Yar, and failures to reform the old volunteer battalion structure into an official military structure.
History
Founding
The Ukrainian Volunteer Corps has its origins in vigilante militias created by the Right Sector formed during the Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity. After the fall of the Yanukovych government, the police largely abandoned the streets of Kyiv and groups of young men, including members of Right Sector, patrolled them armed mostly with baseball bats and sometimes with guns. The guns the Right Sector volunteers had were stolen from the Militsiya at the end of the Maidan.On 12 April, the pro-Russian unrest escalated when armed pro-Russian militants seized control city of Sloviansk. The Ukrainian government responded with an offensive against the separatists, marking the first major military engagement of the war in Donbas. On 20 April, Yarosh led a group of armed Right Sector members who were covertly sent by acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov to destroy the transformer of the Sloviansk television station on Karachun mountain. When their four-car convoy attempted to pass an insurgent-controlled checkpoint, a gunfight broke out, leading to the first combat fatalities of the conflict. The Ukrainian government denied that the attack was carried out by Right Sector until two years later, when Yarosh admitted that it was true. There is still dispute over which side shot first.
After the eruption of the war in Donbas in April 2014. The regular Ukrainian Armed Forces suffered a number of defeats and setbacks against the separatists, as they were ill-prepared, ill-equipped, lacking in professionalism, morale, and fighting spirit, and with severe incompetence in the high command. The reaction to these failures saw the creation of various "volunteer battalions" militias and paramilitary groups formed by willing civilians to fight the separatists on their own initiative. Many volunteers of the Right Sector initially formed the "Dnipro-2" volunteer battalion—in reference to Dnipro-1—however, the Ministry of Internal Affairs refused to register that as the name of group.
On July 15, 2014, Yarosh announced the creation of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps as the Right Sector's own volunteer battalion. Unlike other far-right formations, such as the Azov Battalion and Sich Battalion, or the "Dnipro-1" which "Dnipro-2" was named after, the Volunteer Corps weren't intended to be subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a "Special Tasks Patrol Police", but to operate independently. This was caused by a distrust of the Ministry after Right Sector activist Aleksandr Muzychko was shot dead by the Militsiya. On July 17, the first orders were given and the official statute was issued, and this is considered the official date of the formation of the Corps.
Combat history
War in Donbas
The Ukrainian Volunteer Corps went to the front in the Donetsk Oblast, where they had their baptism of fire at the Battle in Shakhtarsk Raion when they captured the town of Avdiivka from the Russian separatist forces in Donbas together with the 93rd Mechanized Brigade. Later on 1 August, the Volunteer Corps together with the 51st Guards Mechanized Brigade took the town of Krasnohorivka.On 12 August, they lost twelve fighters when they were ambushed outside Donetsk heading to the Petrovsky District in August 2014. Only two soldiers in the bus escaped. Yarosh, the group's leader, vowed his group would avenge the deaths.
Five days later, Right Sector accused the Ministry of Internal Affairs of harbouring counterrevolutionary forces seeking to destroy the Ukrainian volunteer movement. It said that Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Yevdokimov's followers among the police had illegally searched or detained dozens of Ukrainian Volunteer Corps volunteers and confiscated weapons they had taken in combat. The Right Sector also demanded that President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko "clean out" the Ministry of disloyal members, otherwise they would withdraw from the combat zone and march to Kyiv. Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov countered by saying the Right Sector volunteers weren't even on the frontlines. However, by August 17, Yarosh reversed and said his statement demands had been met in part and that his volunteers would continue to fight the separatists.
Around the end September, the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps started to deploy its troops to the west of the city of Donetsk, around the area of the village of Pisky and the Donetsk International Airport, taking part of the famous Second Battle of Donetsk Airport. Together with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Volunteer Corps stood their ground and held control of the airport after various attacks by Russian separatists and Russian Armed Forces for almost two months until they withdrew on 12 November, while the rest of the Ukrainian forces pulled out on early January. Due their fierce defense, the troops that fought in Donetsk Airport were nicknamed "Cyborgs", a moniker given by DPR separatists.
In December, the Corps joined fellow volunteer battalions 40th Territorial Defence Battalion "Kryvbas", Dnipro-1 and Donbas Battalion in carrying out inspections on freight traffic going to the ATO zone in order to prevent arms traffic by pro-Russian sympathizers to separatist forces through humanitarian convoys.
In February 2015, the Azov Battalion started a military operation to push DPR separatist forces away from Mariupol, and it turned into a fierce battle for control of the village of Shyrokyne. In March, the Volunteer Corps started to be redeployed in the southern front around the Sea of Azov to the Shyrokyne standoff, covering the defensive flanks of the Azov and Donbas Battalion. By July, most volunteer forces in Shyrokyne were rotated out of the front by regular forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
During the rest of the war in Donbas, the DUK patrolled around the line of contact at the ATO zone. According to Yarosh, by 2016 circa 300 volunteers remained in the contact line doing specific tasks, such as reconnaissance and counter-sniper operations.
2015 clash with Ukraine's special security service
On 10 July 2015, Ukrainian government forces clashed with Right Sector forces in the city of Mukacheve, located in Western Ukraine. Two people were killed. According to President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko's parliamentary faction leader Yuriy Lutsenko, these events "result the conflict of interests between illegal armed groups and a mafia overtly cooperating with law enforcers." Some local leaders indicated the conflict ensued when Right Sector forces attempted to clamp down on the lucrative illegal cigarette smuggling trade to Western Europe, in which local law enforcement have been complicit. Immediate fallout from the events included the sacking of the leadership of the local Zakarpatya district customs service. Ukrainian MP Mykhailo Lanyo, fingered in the smuggling ring, reportedly fled Ukraine. Right Sector leader Yarosh called for calm, and denied that Right Sector troops were being withdrawn from eastern Ukraine.File:March of Ukraine's Defenders in Kiev, 2019.08.24 - 35.jpg|thumb|Veterans of the DUK's Hospitallers Medical Battalion in a military parade, 2019
Crimea border blockade
On 20 September 2015, the Right Sector together with the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People started a massive traffic obstruction of Russian-controlled Crimea. It saw demonstrators blocking traffic of trucks, railways, electricity and water going to Crimea. Although passenger cars were allowed to go.The Right Sector paramilitaries of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps joined the blockage, together with members of the Azov Regiment they provided security to the demonstrators.