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Ukrainian interior ministry troops are prepared to storm a rogue volunteer military unit base in northern Lugansk should disarmament negotiations fail, according to Russian language news sources.
Eight top commanders of the "Tornado" Battalion, a volunteer police unit currently based in Severodonetsk, were detained and sent to Kiev to face trial after an investigation uncovered that they had committed serious crimes against civilians and against members of their own unit, including murder, torture, rape, physical assault and robbery.
Ukrainian chief military prosecutor, Anatoly Matios said Friday that of the 170 members of the unit, 43 had a criminal past and one of the commanders, Ruslan Onishchenko had five, the most of any of the current detainees.
Yesterday, Russian reserve FSB Colonel Igor Girkin claimed on his news website that Onishchenko was in interior ministry custody and undergoing intensive medical care after suffering a severe beating, likely at the hands of interior ministry officials.
According to a news report in regnum.ru, the Tornado battalion's 170 effectives have barricaded themselves in Severdonetsk, and have mined their perimeter. The report suggests that the leaders have yet to talk with interior ministry investigators.
Matios said Friday that the interior ministry had sufficient troops near Severodonetsk to take the base by attack, so if the leaders refuse to allow investigators into the base, an attack could take place by Sunday.
"You can call it disarmament operations, or it can be called whatever you like," Matios is quoted as saying. "We have information that a large number of people are there, but cannot leave the base, because it is mined. At the entrance to the base is a car bomb."
According to a news report on tensor.net, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on a Facebook page Friday that two interior ministry officers, identified as generals Yarovoy and Rudenko, were in Severodonetsk and are expected to participate in negotiations for disarmament of the unit.
According to the posting, the acting commander of "Tornado" Battalion, Nikolai Cukura has stated his unit is in full compliance with interior ministry orders, although the latest is that the unit continues to be barricaded.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
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