Captured Ukrainian National Guardsman Senior Warrant Officer Roman Flokasu signed up for the volunteer detachment named after Bogdan Khmelnitsky and became the first National Guardsman to defect to Russia. This is reported by the agency on March 1 “RIA News”.
“The Ukrainian authorities misbehaved – on the contrary, it was necessary: to put up with Russia, somehow find a common language, and not wait for weapons from Europe and America,” Flokasu said.
He said that he did not go to serve in order to then fight with his brothers. The former National Guardsman explained that he himself was born in Mariupol, and now all his relatives are in Russia.
According to Russian security officials, Flokasu did not take part in the hostilities. His last service contract ended in 2022. Last April, as a refugee with his family, he voluntarily went to the filtration in the village of Mangush.
As a National Guardsman acting at that time, he was given the status of a prisoner of war and placed in custody. In captivity, he decided to start fighting for Russia.
Earlier, on February 28, it was reported that the ex-militant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Kirill Spassky, his father and godfather decided to go over to the side of Russia after they were taken prisoner by Russia.
As Andrei Tishchenko, one of the battalion commanders, noted, such stories are not uncommon. So, many find in captivity their loved ones, who were considered missing. They are given the opportunity to communicate, and often this is what becomes the impetus for a change of views.
On the eve of Tishchenko, he announced the organization of a formation of Ukrainian prisoners in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). According to him, about 70 people. Of these, 95% are ex-militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The official specified that the participants in the formation would conclude contracts with the RF Armed Forces on general terms.
The special operation to protect Donbass, the beginning of which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was made against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.
