the insignia of the notorious rapists and murderers of the "Tornado" battalion. "The Blacks were fighters who were not formally recruited because they had criminal records; Freeman actively recruited them into the Tornado. Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov personally disbanded Shakhtyorsk. note Sputnik). Many agreed and came.The battalion also had a category of "white" and "grey" fighters.The "Whites", fighters that were former police officers who were discharged or had not been re-certified in the summer of 2015 and came to serve in the battalion. Ukrainian officials say one video shows a re-enactment of how members of Tornado forced two captives to rape another man; they also say some 40 members of the battalion have criminal records. Later, SBU officers deceived Mr M. by promising to exchange him for the UAF fighters who were being held captive by illegal armed groups, and forced him to testify about his involvement in terrorist activities. note Sputnik).What Exactly Were the Tornado Fighters Accused of?The national battalion was stationed in the part of the Lugansk region which was under Ukrainian control (not to be confused with the LPR - Sputnik). The Kiev government released the sadists from this battalion in March and sent them to the front.In the summer of 2015, Ukraine witnessed a scandal over the Tornado battalion men whod only recently been hailed as "ATO heroes" were being called criminals. Published June 22, 2015 at 1:56 pm. When the stun guns discharged, they told me and one other person to stand up. Territorial defence battalions (Ukrainian: , romanized:Bataliony terytorialnoi oborony) were volunteer military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the auspices of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence in 20142015. The battalions were established in mid-2014, during the early stages of the war in Donbas, to combat the pro-Russian separatists[1][2][3] and the forces of the Donetsk People's Republic, Luhansk People's Republic, and the United Armed Forces of Novorossiya. Nevertheless, the formation of the new national battalion was not kept secret. Reduction of five years in prison with the 'yes is yes' law for the man who raped and killed an 83-year-old woman, Pushilin: Armed Forces of Ukraine are trying to counterattack in the Ugledar direction, Belgian Finance Ministry: Brussels freezes Russian assets worth 58 billion. The Tornado fighters came to this grandmother's house, pulled a new mattress right out from under her and left. The yelling, public threats and humiliation paralyzed the fighters. The officers in question consumed marijuana about six or seven times in our presence by consuming it through a makeshift water bong.The Protocol II:The Protocol III:The Protocol IV:The Kharkov Human Rights Protection Group ReportMost of the citizens who experienced the so-called "mop-up" refused to describe their stories in writing, fearing for their safety. Tornado battalion (which actually was only a company) was created in 2014 in Zaporizhia and came under command of the Ministry of Interior.. The criminals released under the emergency amnesty are now not just at large; they were given weapons. In addition, he was in the basement in darkness and could not observe the change of day and night.An eyewitness to the detention of the elderly man in the basement was Ms H., the business manager of the Stanitsa Luganskaya settlement council, who was held in the same room for several hours, together with the detainee, and accidentally witnessed his ill-treatment.Later, SBU officers deceived Mr M. by promising to exchange him for the UAF fighters who were being held captive by illegal armed groups, and forced him to testify about his involvement in terrorist activities. were mentioned, indicating that the TDF has likely expanded far past the initially planned size. The legal counsels and the Tornado members themselves used this catch. A Russian journalist has visited the former base of the notorious Ukrainian neo-Nazi Tornado battalion and found evidence of murder, torture, and rape, including of underage girls. Onishchenko took a ski stick and hit me on the legs and genitals no less than 30 times, the witness said.The man said that after the beatings, he wanted to commit suicide. I did not want to live, so I ripped off a piece of rusty metal from the door and started to slit my wrists.*Photos:1. Those 170 people, of whom 100 are now officially registered with the police, and about 70 are unidentified people, are armed and staying on the territory of the base In mid-March, when I was near the driveway, a bus pulled up and three men in camouflage uniforms got out and forcibly took me into the minibus. Afterwards, by rotating the metal handle of the telephone, bare wires were pressed against various parts of the body. Mujahid came up with the idea of shooting a movie in the basement involving prisoners, he called it just like that the cinema", says one of the battalion fighters, for whom the prosecutor's office has no questions and he was not prosecuted. Radical politicians, members of neo-Nazi movements and ATO veterans, who were convinced that the charges were fabricated, demanded an open trial. . The now-famed Ukrainian defendersmostly members of marine and Azov Battalion unitswere increasingly confined to the sprawling Azovstal steel plant, which would become the last bastion of . The volunteer battalion was formed in 2014, and recognized by the interior ministry, and fought in eastern Ukraine in the ongoing conflict against the separatist Donetsk and Lugansk regions. According to the investigation, members of Tornado installed a torture chamber on the first floor of a local school. (Russian MoD) Evidence is emerging from the conflict in Ukraine appearing to show that Russian forces are utilizing guided rockets - the 9M544 and . On top of these acts of cruelty, Tornado battalion members have boasted of extreme sexual violence, including the rape of small children.It was the unit's penchant for perversion that likely prompted the June 2015 Interior Ministry order to disband them.. 6 May 2014 Ukraine began a second stage of mobilization. The court ruled to commute the sentence by releasing him from prison and imposing a probation period of three years.Roman Ivash, Nikita Sviridovskiy and Andrei Demchuk were released from the sentence with two years' probation.All those convicted fall under the Savchenko Law (one day in pre-trial detention counts as two days in prison). This was in 2016. "Tornado" is a national police battalion that was put on trial in Ukraine for numerous atrocities on Ukrainian territory. [31] In social media statements by the TDF, several previously unseen battalion numbers (some exceeding the theoretical 150 number), such as the 103rd,[32] 124th,[33] 130th,[34] 251st [35] etc. The said events and torture were recorded by Tornado members on mobile phones. Many agreed and came. 107 Followers Follow. They accounted for half of the battalion. They should not be confused with the volunteer units of Special Tasks Patrol Police of Ukraine created along with territorial defense battalions, but under the auspices of the Ministry of Interior. Ruslan Onishchenko, the former commander of the notorious Ukrainian Tornado battalion whose fighters were convicted of torturing people in Donbass, has been released from jail and may join the fight against Russia. Hed served time in prison twice and was a member of an organised crime group.The law enforcers did not dare to storm the building. The deputy minister tweeted a "creative proposal" he had for the aircraft that are planned to be replaced by the F-35 fighter jets. You can participate in the discussion within 24 hours after the publication of the article. The ships of the "Karakurt" and "Buyan-M" projects with "Caliber" went to the exercises in the Baltic Sea, The weather on Tuesday: cold, lightly snowy in the southeast, and rainy in Corsica, The lawyer's concern: The verdict could lead to fewer reports, What is the fate of Zelensky after the end of the war? Many have been . After the lineup, not on camera, they could receive a beating. Some members of the group were given sentences ranging from 7 to 12 years. To prevent me from running away, they put metal handcuffs on my leg, which they attached to a 24 kg kettlebell. This was reported on the evening of April 7th by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. The victims did not believe that the same authorities who had thrown them to the mercy of the Tornado fighters would give the battalion a fair trial: today they are behind bars and tomorrow they'll be free taking revenge on those who dared to testify against them (spoiler: indeed that is what happened the defendants were later released).Since the beginning, the court was under enormous pressure from politicians, neo-Nazis and "brothers in arms". The public learned about the crimes of the Shakhtyorsk battalion almost straight away. Members of the Tornado battalion appeared in the Kyiv court. Volodymyr Savanchuk, a volunteer, is now also on trial. The law enforcers did not dare to storm the building. ( ) . Tornado Battalion fighters training to help wounded soldiers at their base in Luhansk Oblast. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Onishchenko was taken into custody for 11 years, another 11 fighters - for terms ranging from 5-10 years. I told Ruslan that I would not do that. Some members of the national battalion have been accused of paedophilia.Popular opinions were split: some, despite the evidence of crimes against Ukrainian civilians, believed in the innocence of the former "national heroes", while others wanted a fair trial and retribution. Here is a video of the 'lineup' that Onishchenko, a battalion commander and repeated criminal, held for those who were disillusioned and wanted to leave the Tornado. Do you think I am lying? People live so poor there, anyone who has been to Stanitsa Luganskaya knows that it reminds of Stalingrad because everything is smashed and bombed, they took away juice from a 10-month-old baby; I have no words to describe that". Photo by Alexander Rychkov. Near Kiev detained "Mojahed" - the most bloodthirsty fighter units "Tornado". In the basement, the men were stripped naked, placed on a concrete floor, and doused with water. This was mainly done with the aim of seizing property from the victims and further intimidating them. This odious battalion became famous for kidnapping and holding civilians in their own prison, torturing them and . REUTERS/VALENTYN OGIRENKO (3) SPECIAL REPORT 5 UKRAINE MAVERICK BATTALIONS and bribes are still used for everything from During the fight against the "separatists", almost every resident of the settlement went through the illegal detention facilities organised by the Tornado battalion members. Furthermore, I was forced to do humiliating chores every day, cleaning toilets, collecting cigarette butts, and so on. Among other things, three of the defendants were charged with committing crimes under Part 3 of Article 153 of the Criminal Code (sexual indulgence in perverse forms committed repeatedly or by a group of persons). Onishchenko was previously prosecuted five times for serious and particularly serious crimes. All in all, I was kept in the basement for 17 days.. Reportedly, the commander and eight officers of Tornado battalion have been detained in Ukraine today. Moreover, one of the Tornado officers, threatening to kill the detainee, forced him to suck and lick a plastic pipe. Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk has offered Germany to transfer Tornado fighter jets planned for decommissioning to Ukraine. , c , , , . , , 454/2014 , "In Nikolaev create the armed battalion of territorial self-defence for situation deduction in the region", "Promised Remedies Transformation 34 Battalion territorial defence", . SHARES. They say they want to defend their freedom. The 19th Territorial Defence Battalion was created in, The 21st Territorial Defence Battalion was created in, 22 July 2014 Ukraine began third stage of mobilisation, The 37th Territorial Defence Battalion was formed between 29 August 2014, The 41st Territorial Defence Battalion was formed in, 1st Territorial Defence Battalion Volyn (, 3rd Territorial Defence Battalion "Volya" (, 4th Territorial Defence Battalion disbanded "Zakarpattia" (, 41st Territorial Defence Battalion disbanded "Chernihiv-2" (, 43rd Territorial Defence Battalion "Patriot" (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast), This page was last edited on 9 February 2023, at 19:43. During . Tornado fighters also set up a torture chamber in the basement of a school in Lysychansk where they raped and tortured locals, including minors and retired people regardless of their gender. The Tornado criminals are in no hurry to go to the front line. Ukrainian military prosecutors, police, and residents allege that members of the Tornado battalion tasked with policing Pryvillia and nearby communities went rogue, committing violent crimes . They justified their rail terrorism by citing "the struggle against smuggling, corruption and illegal arms trade". Ukrainian law enforcement officers would be able to correctly qualify crimes committed . At 10 p.m., we were brought to the school building in our village, where the Tornado battalion was stationed, which everyone knew about, and put me in the basement. There would be no life without torture. The national battalion was stationed in the part of the Lugansk region which was under Ukrainian control (not to be confused with the LPR - Sputnik). However, it was decided that the trials would be held behind closed doors. For example, when a Novaya Gazeta* correspondent talked to both residents of Lugansk region and former Tornado fighters, he discovered a rather unambiguous picture ("The Tornado Effect", an article from 17 October 2016).Gradually it became clear to us that all those 'separatists' in the basements that Freeman (Onishchenko) and his people told us about were simple drunks and workers from Severodonetsk and the surrounding towns and cities but not militants of any kind.