Russian Volunteers Defect to Ukrainian Army to Fight Against Putin

A growing number of Russian men disillusioned with Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine have joined the Ukrainian military's Siberian Battalion, a special unit formed to accommodate Russian defectors. The battalion, officially part of the regular Ukrainian army, currently numbers a few dozen fighters but aims to have a 300-man-strong unit of Russian fighters. Prospective troops undergo extensive security checks before being offered training and deployed to the front lines in eastern Ukraine. Many of the battalion's members come from Russia's impoverished far east region and hope that a Ukrainian victory will help break Moscow's stranglehold over their region.