Who is Fighting in Ukraine?: Non-Military State and Non-State Actors

The current war in Ukraine is often framed as a battle between the Russian and Ukrainian armies but as with any modern conflict it is not as simple as that. The Cold War brought a new concept to the table, mutually assured destruction. Since both the Soviet Union and the West had the ability to destroy each other with nuclear weapons new ways of fighting wars needed to be found. Proxy conflicts became this answer. As such non-state actors have become an invaluable asset to the way that states conduct warfare.

The first example of this was the way the Vietnam war was conducted with the Vietnamese use of the Vietcong as well as regular North Vietnamese Army troops. Since then, there has been a blurring between what is a state actor and what is not. Countries like to operate in the grey areas using organizations such as paramilitary forces, militias, and mercenaries. As is seen in Ukraine these forces are not just limited to proxy conflicts between superpowers but also have their place in near-peer conventional conflicts. This piece is going to focus primarily on these irregular units that are operating in Ukraine but will also shed light on the fact that not all regular units operating in theatre are military units. The complex and intricate nature of modern warfare allow all these different groups to overlap and engage with each other in different ways and it can be important to understand the nuances between these groups to understand the conflict as a whole.

Russian side

Rosguard

The Rosguard was set up in 2016 by Vladimir Putin and answers to him alone. This consolidated the older units of SOBR, OMHN and the MVD together into one unit. Despite its look this unit is not a Russian military unit but instead a Gendarmerie. The concept of a Gendarmerie can often be confusing to the English-speaking world as its policing culture has its roots in the English police forces that were established in the 1800s. The task of Gendarmerie forces is to operate with a military structure and tactics but carry out a policing role for the domestic civilian population. The job of the Rosguard involves jobs such as the protection of Russia’s borders in support of the Russian border patrol, combating terrorism and organized crime and the suppression of civil unrest such as riots.

The unit has been deployed to Ukraine to suppress Ukrainian resistance in occupied territory. They have been seen operating in Kherson where they have quelled protests against the occupation and have been seen protecting the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. According to Russian reports they have been operating in tandem with Ukrainian forces that have surrendered to Russia.

After the 2014 annexation of Crimea a new SOBR unit was set up. These units are similar to US SWAT teams and are one of the assets that the Rosguard uses. This unit known as SOBR Halzan was made up members of the former Ukrainian special police force Berkut. This unit was responsible for policing of the new occupied territory of Crimea. More than likely as the war goes on units of the Rosguard will be created out of surrendered Ukrainian units as Ukrainians policing Ukrainians will be easier for the public to stomach. Incorporating Ukrainian forces directly under the Russian system would be beneficial for the Kremlin too because it makes them easier to control. This follows the tactics employed by the Kremlin to get Chechnya on side after two brutal wars as will be seen in the next example.

Kadyrovtsy (Chechnya)

Chechnya is a region of Russia in the south near the Caucasus mountains. The area is majority Muslim and has a reputation for creating fearless warriors. This reputation comes from the time that Leo Tolstoy spent with the Cossack’s who were at war with the Chechen’s in the 1850s and his writing solidified the global perception of Chechen warriors. Despite the reputation of being untameable they were eventually incorporated into the Russian empire that in 1917 would become the Soviet Union. As the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 Chechnya took the opportunity to declare its independence from Russia. The Chechen’s under General Dudayev took control of the region but on paper it remained Russian territory. As such in 1994 Russia decided to retake the territory. This led to a bitter war between the Russians and the Chechen’s. One of the commanders from this period Akhmad Kadyrov would play a pivotal role in Chechnya’s future. In 1996 the Khasavyurt Accord was signed which would lead to Russia pulling its troops out of the region and giving Chechnya regional autonomy.

During the First Chechen war a Jihad was called. This is where a war is declared to be in defence of Islam and as such it means that foreign fighters and funding will pour in to protect the faith. The Chechen’s tended to follow a version of Sufi Islam that is quite moderate. However, when the Jihad was called a lot of fighters started to pour in from Afghanistan with a lot being veterans from the insurgency against the Soviet occupation from 1979-1989. Saudi funding also flooded into religious institutions. This brought the more radical Wahhabi Islam with it and as such the nature of the rebellion changed from a nationalist struggle into a religious one. After a few years of relative peace, a group of Chechen Jihadists decided to invade the neighbouring province of Dagestan which brought Russia into conflict again. The nature of the Second Chechen War was defined more by its acts of terrorism such as the Beslen School Siege and the Moscow Theatre Hostage Crisis. As such some of the rebels that fought originally for Chechen independence joined the Russian effort and fought on their side. This group was led by Akhmad Kadyrov and as such when the war ended. he was made president of the autonomous region of Chechnya.

The Kadyrovtsy was created in this time from the forces that fought in the Second Chechen War under Kadyrov. This is a paramilitary force that deals with internal security matters within Chechnya such as organized crime and terrorism. It technically operates under the Rosguard but for all intents and purposes is its own unit. Putin has used close ties with the current leader of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov (son of Akhmad Kadyrov) to have issues in Chechnya policed by Chechen’s rather than Russian Slavs meaning that it does not feel as if laws are being imposed by an external actor. The Kadyrovtsy in recent years has begun to be used by the Kremlin for external security. They were deployed as part of Russia’s intervention in Syria. They were invaluable there due to their Islamic faith. The US has had issues in the Middle East as Jihadists can frame their wars against Western troops as a war between Christendom and Islam. The Chechen’s allowed Russia to sidestep this issue because they had Muslims interacting with the civilian population instead of Slavic Orthodox Christian Russians. It also allowed the Russians to gain access to areas that otherwise they would not such as the ability to enter Mosques that the US had to use partner forces such as the Iraqi Army or the Afghan National Army to achieve.

The Kremlin is using this unit in Ukraine for some important reasons. The strong ties between Ukraine and Russia have led to some of the Slavic Russian troops being less willing to engage in combat with what they see as their ethnic brothers in Ukraine. The history of Chechnya has proved they have no such difficulty. The combat experience that the unit has both domestically and abroad is an invaluable asset to a military that apart from specific units such as some special forces units and units such as the VDV does not have extensive combat experience. This coupled with the mythos surrounding the Chechen’s is a useful propaganda tool to show Russian combat prowess especially considering how poor Russia is doing in some regards. The units have been seen across the conflict zone from helping retaking Hostomel Airport after the defeat there of the VDV and the SSO to operating heavily in the battles in Mariupol. They seem to be used as shock troops due to the fierce nature that they fight with. As such they are one of the most valuable assets that the Kremlin has to prosecute this war.

Syrian Mercenaries

The use of Syrian mercenaries at first glance seems quite random however digging a bit deeper it makes more sense. The Syrian Civil War that kicked off in 2011 with protests in Syria brought on by the Arab Spring has shaped the politics of the country for the last eleven years. A multitude of existential threats were posed to the Damascus government from US and Turkish backed groups such as the FSA and the YPG and Jihadist groups such as ISIS, Al Qaeda and Al Nusra. The intervention originally by Iran and later in 2015 by Russia would secure the regime of Bashar Al Assad. It is more than likely that he would not be in power but for Russia’s help.

As such Syria has become one of the Kremlin’s closest allies which is ironic considering that Putin was apprehensive of Assad before intervening and was convinced to intervene by the IRGC Quds Force leader General Qasem Soleimani. This Iranian General would later be killed by a US drone strike in Iraq sanctioned by the Trump administration which coincidentally is the last time that #WW3 trended on twitter. Syria’s support can be seen as Syria was one of the five nations in the UN that chose to vote not to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Syria has sent mercenaries to fight with Russian backed groups in Libya and the same mercenaries have fought alongside Russian troops and the Wagner Group in Syria.

As such the influx of these mercenaries would be helpful to Russia’s effort in Ukraine. Russia like the US fought the Syrian war with a light footprint. This is usually achieved with a heavy reliance on Special Forces and Air Power. Most of the heavy fighting on the ground is done by local forces and the larger militaries capacities are used to assist such as airstrikes, cruise missile strikes and training. The Russian military did not carry out much of the ground operations and as such the influx of mercenaries that have that experience would be welcome. The urban combat that is going to be seen in places such as Mariupol is going to look a lot like Aleppo where a lot of these mercenaries fought which makes their experience valuable. There have been no reports yet of these mercenaries operating in theatre but there have been reports that contracts are being signed and groups are being organized in Syria and they will more than likely make the move soon to Russia to join the fight.

Peoples Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk

The Peoples Republic of Donetsk and the Peoples Republic of Luhansk are two separate breakaway republics in the Donbass region of Ukraine. Both these regions are majority ethnic Russian. Unlike other parts of Eastern Europe this region also has a favourable view of Communism. Prior to 2014 it was seen to be a hotbed of pro-Russian sentiment. This sentiment however was more moderate with the population being in favour of staying within Ukraine but wanting larger regional autonomy such as allowing closer ties with Russia and allowing Russian to be seen as the vernacular of the region rather than Ukrainian. There was a referendum taken on these measures in 1994 in which the Donbass region voted 90% in favour of reforms. However, none of these reforms materialized.

The reforms that were to come in 2014 after the Euromaiden protests in Kyiv and the West of the country were not as well accepted in the East. These regions saw themselves having closer ties to Russia rather than the West and as such they were not happy with the turn towards Western institutions such as the EU. Armed insurrections took place against local governments in the East. The city of Harkyiv was taken by protesters however these were eventually beaten back by Ukrainian security forces. However, both Donetsk and Luhansk were taken, and this is where the War in the Donbass began. Both regions are De-facto independent however no one recognized them as separate states.

Militias began to be stood up in these regions to hold onto the gains that the protesters made. The nature of what these militias are changes depending on who you ask, Russia recognizes these militias as the official militaries of the two republics whereas Ukraine sees them as separatist terrorists. Russia saw this as an opportunity to fund, arm, train, and command these forces in a proxy war against Ukraine. Russian soldiers with flags and unit insignia removed from their uniforms had been spotted operating in the region. These units were dubbed “little green men” by the Western media whereas the Russian government however maintained that they were part of the militias in Donetsk and Luhansk. This region is where the majority of fighting has happened from 2014 to 2022 and the militias have played a vital role being the main forces fighting against the Ukrainian government in the region.

On the 21st of February 2022 Putin officially recognized these two break away states and began to officially move troops into the region. The next day Russia started its full invasion of Ukraine with one of its main justifications being the protection of these two states. As such the militia forces of Donetsk and Luhansk have been used extensively in the current phase of the conflict. The majority of the active Ukrainian army is stationed in the East of the country on the border with these two break away states. The militia forces have been continuing the same combat that they have been since 2014 in order to keep these units pinned in place. More than likely a Russian encirclement of these units will be tried if they can muster the troops to do so. Another place that they are being seen used heavily is the battle for Mariupol. This is the second time this has happened as there was a large battle in 2014 between Ukrainian security services and the Peoples Republic of Donetsk for control of Mariupol. The untrained nature of these militias could be a partial explanation of the devastation being seen in Mariupol but more than likely is not the only reason. These units can be identified by two things. The first of these is the mix match nature of uniforms and equipment since it is a militia. Russian, Soviet and Western Surplus is all mixed together as well as civilian clothing. The second way is the presence of Soviet iconography such as the flag of the USSR being placed on vehicles. Questions have been asked in the media about why Russian forces are flying these flags however these are troops from the breakaway states. It is important to be able to tell the difference between regular Russian forces and these irregulars which is not always done very effectively by the media.

Wagner Group

The Wagner Group is Russia’s most notorious mercenary groups. It was set up by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin and ex-GRU special forces Lt Col Dmitry “Wagner” Utkin in 2014. Prigozhin made his money in the restaurant and casino business in Moscow and has close ties with Putin. He is in charge of the business side of the company and was involved heavily in creating both the business and political ties that the group has. Utkin on the other hand is the military leader of the organization. His nickname “Wagner” which also has become the name of the organization is taken from the name of the German composer Richard Wagner. Wagner was one of Adolf Hitlers favourite composers and this is why the name was chosen by Utkin. Utkin and other members of the Wagner group have been known to have tattoos of Nazi imagery such as the SS lightning bolts. As such far-right politics are rampant throughout the organization.

The organization is a mix between the Western style private military contractors and traditional mercenaries. The idea of a private military contractor such as “Blackwater” is that it is a private company that works to provide assets that may be needed in time of war such as contractors to protect money transfers or oil fields in a warzone or providing private training to military or law enforcement units at home. Private Military Contractors are legally only allowed to provide their services to the country that they are from. Mercenary groups however are usually illegal, and they will provide fighters to the highest bidder for any conflict. The Wagner Group on its face is a mercenary group that contracts out fighters and training out to whoever will buy. It cannot be fully confirmed however it is speculated that the close ties it has with the GRU means that the contracts and orders it takes do not come from the country that is apparently hiring them but instead it takes orders from the Kremlin. This gives the Kremlin a fighting force that it can wash its hands of and on paper they have no ties to each other giving Putin plausible deniability.

The group has been deployed across the world in hot spots that have been of interest to Moscow such as Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Sudan, Venezuela, Mali, and the Central African Republic. In Syria the Wagner Group fought a four-hour battle with a detachment of US Green Berets and Marines and in Central Africa has been accused of war crimes such as the torture of prisoners with sledgehammers. The company may take the reputational damage, but it allows the Kremlin to keep its hands cleaner than if it was Russian special forces for instance that carried out these actions. Everyone may know what the truth is but at the same time no one can react in the same way that they otherwise would if it was a state entity. As such the group has been deployed to Ukraine to carry out some of the dirtier jobs that won’t be touched by regular troops such as assassination attempts on Ukrainian government officials such as Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ukrainian side

Civilian militias

When the invasion of Ukraine began Ukraine instituted conscription for every male between the ages of 18 and 60. Small arms such as rifles have been handed out to the population to resist Russian advances. They have also been making use of home built implements such as Molotov cocktails. These units have little to no training but can be used for ambush attacks in urban combat where fighting is done at much closer ranges. Videos have surfaced of these units carrying out attacks such as drive-by molotoving of Russian units or convoys. It is an open question however how effective these units are or is it more a case of having a unified investment between the civilian population and the military. This coupled with the appearances of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in body armour and military style clothing gives a feeling to the public and the world that all Ukrainians are in the fight together. This may not make a tactical or strategic difference but will make a propaganda difference. It is more than likely that battles will not be won by these units but the presence of large amounts of small arms among the civilian population means that Russia needs to expend more resources to police occupied territory for the potential of insurgent attacks. The more commitment to these types of operations the less personnel that are available to fight the Ukrainian military.

Azov Battalion

The Azov Battalion is a volunteer militia group that is attached to the Ukrainian national guard. They were created in 2014 and have proved to be one of the most controversial units that are fighting for Ukraine. They come from the culture of football hooliganism that existed around Ukrainian football clubs such as FC Metalist Kharkiv. During the unrest in Kharkiv that came about as pro-Russian separatists began to try and take control of Kharkiv in reaction to the Euromaiden protests of 2014. These football hooligans banded together into an organization they called Sect 82 and operated as self-proclaimed defence forces against the Pro-Russian separatists. After helping to put down the pro-Russian separatists they were organized into a Special Task Force and were trained in military tactics by the Georgian legion. In May of 2014 they were sent to Mariupol to fight in the Battle of Mariupol there and after winning that fight, they would remain stationed there and would be sent to the front lines of the fight in Donbass. However, in 2015 their controversial nature led them to be pulled off the front lines and instead used as a domestic police force within Mariupol. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2019 would claim that the group carried out torture of civilians and soldiers as well as the looting of civilians in the East of Ukraine.

There is proof of significant far right and Neo-Nazi sympathies within the group. Their symbol looks suspiciously similar to the Nazi German symbol of the Wolfsangel that was used by many SS units during the war. According to reports from inside the group ten to twenty per cent of the force has Neo-Nazi sympathies. The US and Canada both were providing training to this organization as part of its broader array of training that was given to Ukrainian units by Western special forces. In 2015 this training was however pulled due to the groups Nazi ties however ended up being reinstated later in the year. The unit also has other members such as Jews which coexist in the ranks with Neo-Nazis and as such it is probably more accurate to call the organization as a whole far-right nationalist rather than explicitly Fascist or National Socialist.

The Azov battalion has taken on a somewhat mythical status to Pro-Russian forces and is seen as representing all Ukrainian forces rather than the two thousand at most that it stands at. This is where Putin’s “De-Nazification” justification for the war comes from. It is seen by Pro-Russian forces especially in the breakaway states of Donetsk and Luhansk that the Azov battalion is in favour of wiping out Russian culture from Ukraine. This is seen to be endorsed by the Ukrainian government as the wishes of these regions were not recognized by the above mentioned 1994 referendum. As such this is where the claim of genocide comes from even though if this was completely accurate it would be a cultural genocide rather than a true genocide.

As such even long after the Azov battalion was removed from the front lines it would not be uncommon for fighters from Donetsk and Luhansk to claim that they were fighting against the Azov battalion. The battalion has been reactivated for front line use and is currently engaged in combat in Mariupol. A controversial video emerged of them dipping their bullets in pig fat when they heard that the Chechen’s of the Kadyrovtsy were being deployed in Mariupol. The idea of this is to deprive the Chechen’s they kill the opportunity to reach the afterlife under Islam by forcing them to consume pork with the tool they used to end their lives. This racist video was shared by the social media accounts of the Ukrainian National Guard and as such is used by the Russians to validate its claims of a broader Neo-Nazi problem in Ukraine. As such a question needs to be asked of how much of an asset this unit is to Ukraine.

Foreign Volunteers

On the 27th of February 2022 three days into the Russo-Ukrainian war the Ukrainian government set up the Ukrainian Foreign Legion. fighters from fifty-two countries around the world have decided to join the legion to help Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Most of these fighters are ex-military members from their home nations and are bringing training, expertise and in some cases combat experience with them. Countries such as the United States, Britain and Israel have large amounts of combat experience among its veterans with the former two being heavily involved in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria and with Israel having mandatory military service for all their population. There is an open question of how legal this is however. Many foreigners that went to join the Kurd’s in Syria and help fight against ISIS ended up receiving terrorism charges when they returned back home in the UK. This war seems to be different with UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss actively encouraging people to join the legion on live TV which was later walked back by Downing Street.

Even though governments may want to help Ukraine a danger is posed of endorsing those that go and fight. If it is seen by Russia that the West is encouraging the use of mercenary forces to fight in the region it may start to use its own mercenary forces to be used in retaliatory attacks. EU and NATO forces are stationed in Mali and US, British and French troops are stationed in Syria. The Wagner group also operates in these regions and as has already been discussed it has attacked Western troops in the past. As such it is important that Western governments limit their support for these individuals leaving whether it is legal or not for fear of retaliatory tit for tat attacks.

Georgian Legion

The Georgian Legion is a group of fighters that came to Ukraine in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea and the beginning of the war in the Donbass. Georgia fought its own war with the Russian army and Russian separatists in the 2008 Russo-Georgian war where Russia took over the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Georgians fighting in Ukraine are mostly veterans of this war and due to the military and combat experience that they possessed they helped train some Ukrainian units as well as serving as a reconnaissance unit in the war in the Donbass. They are still stationed in the east on the eastern front of the current war fighting with the bulk of the Ukrainian army on the border of the Donbass.

Dzhokhar Dudayev and Sheikh Mansur Battalions (Chechen’s)

As was already discussed with the Kadyrovtsy Chechnya has a sordid history of conflict and rebellion. Two units have come from Chechnya to join the Ukrainian war effort and have been fighting in the region since 2014. It is often not talked about, but Russia was the biggest contributor of foreign fighters to ISIS. The situation was so bad that Russia carried out a drive to get free passports out to Chechen’s to give the opportunity for those who wanted to go fight for ISIS to leave for Iraq or Syria in 2014. This was done to limit the number of Jihadists in Russia so they would not pose a terrorist threat to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. One place that these fighters moved to was Ukraine. The Sheikh Mansur Battalion was set up by some of these jihadist fighters that wanted to continue the fight against Russia that ended with the Second Chechen War. The Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion however came from an older type of Chechen fighter that was more in line with the more nationalist fighters of the early stages of the first Chechen war. The Battalion is named after the leader of the rebels in the first Chechen war. Both these units have been fighting in Eastern Ukraine and there have been reports that they have been in conflict with the Kadyrovtsy and as such Chechen’s have been in conflict with each other in Ukraine.