KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2018) Ukrainian lawmaker, former leader of the Right Sector group (banned in Russia), Dmytro Yarosh announced withdrawal of the units of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army from the conflict zone in the war-torn region of Donbas in order to train territorial defense units across the country.
In July, Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation (JFO) Commander Serhiy Nayev said that only units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and other forces subordinated to the JFO command would be able to operate in the conflict zone.
"The fifth and eighth separate battalions of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army are leaving the front line but not withdrawing from the war. We will take part in the war as long as it continues. The main goal of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army is to create territorial defense units, which will have clear functions," Yarosh said on Monday, as quoted by the Otkrytyi broadcaster.
The lawmaker pointed out that the territorial defense units would unite veterans of the military conflict in Donbas.
Along with the Ukrainian army and other security forces, a number of volunteer battalions, which consist of far-right activists, are fighting against the Donbas militia in eastern Ukraine. The battalions have been repeatedly accused by the militia of committing crimes in the conflict zone.
