Ivan Marchuk, the leader of the Volat Battalion, a Belarusian warrior, was verified to have been killed in the exchange in a video broadcast by a Russian telegram account, according to several sources Wednesday.
The about 500-person volunteer Belarusian combat group was recruited in large part by Marchuk, who went by the call sign “Brest.”
As he struggled to offer cover for other retreated fighters from his unit, Brest allegedly suffered terrible injuries to one of his legs and his head.
On February 22, 2022, a Ukrainian serviceman smokes while fighting with separatists with Russian support close to the town of Troitske in the Lugansk area.
Up until at least one soldier emerged in a video shared to a Russian Telegram account on Tuesday, the location of the other five Belarusian soldiers involved in the exchange remained a mystery.
He wasn’t the only soldier kidnapped, according to the post.
The Kastus Kalinouski Regiment reportedly said, “Since our soldier is a contract military serviceman, not a mercenary, he is officially a prisoner of war.”
The biggest loss the Belarusian volunteer organisation has had in the most recent conflict against Russia, according to a Belarusian news site, is the death of at least one and the likely capture of five other regimental troops.
