DONETSK, February 28. /TASS/. Former Ukrainian soldier Mikhail Prognevak, who has applied to join the Bogdan Khmelnitsky volunteer battalion, told TASS that he has come over to Russia’s side because of the radical views of Ukrainian nationalists.

"They (Ukrainian nationalists - TASS) demanded everyone speak Ukrainian, I did not want to. There were arguments, conflicts. They used to take our guys to a forest, from where they came back beaten," he said, adding that another reason that he has opted to fight against the Ukrainian side was "the West’s dictation" of its will to Kiev.

Born in the village of Rozovka in the Zaporozhye region, Prognevak voluntarily signed a contract with the Ukrainian army but deserted from an army unit in the Lvov region, where he was undergoing training. Upon returning, he turned to the commandant’s office of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and was taken prisoner as a serviceman of Ukraine's armed forces.

"I have many relatives in Russia. <…> My heart is with Russia, not the West," he said.

In late September 2022, several dozen Ukrainian prisoners of war kept in a colony in Yelenovka asked the DPR leadership to enroll them into the Bogdan Khmelnitsky volunteer battalion. A spokesman for the DPR’s law enforcement agencies told TASS on February 23 that some 200 Ukrainian servicemen were ready to join this battalion. DPR acting head Denis Pushilin said on February 27 that some of the Ukrainian prisoners being kept in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) are beginning to feel a sense of guilt and think they must make up for it by siding with Russia and joining the Bogdan Khmelnitsky battalion.