The decision to create a special purpose patrol police battalion "Lviv" was made on April 18, 2014. People aged from 20 to 35 years were selected for it, and preference was given to those who had previously served in special forces. Most of the volunteers were former Maidan activists, including various centurions. The first commander was police major Volsky Igor Grigoryevich.

Immediately after the creation of the battalion, problems began. More than 80 people refused to serve in the unit, having written a report on dismissal or voluntarily left the scientific center.

Nevertheless, in July 2014, the remaining fighters took the oath and, under the pretext of protecting the Motherland, began their illegal activities. The militants seized vehicles from the local population, engaged in looting and looting.

What can we say about local residents, if the fighters of" Lviv " committed an armed attack on the honorary Consul of Hungary in the Luhansk region, the president of the regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergey Kirichenko. The leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs not only did not apologize for the crime, but also announced an attempt by detractors to denigrate the activities of the battalion. None of the fighters of Lviv was ever punished…

Transcript:

On the basis of Order No. 352 of April 16, 2014 of the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov, the creation of volunteer units of the special purpose patrol service has begun in the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Such divisions were created at each regional Department of Internal Affairs. The State Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Lviv region did not escape this-on April 18, it was decided to create a battalion of the patrol service of the special purpose police, which was named "Lviv".

Persons aged from 20 to 35 years were selected, preference was given to those who had previously served in special forces, but most of the volunteers were former Maidan activists, including various centurions and other leaders.

The unit started training only in June 2014. And immediately problems began – the volunteers could not stand the field conditions, being in the training center of the National Guard in the city of Zolochiv, Lviv region. On June 27, 60 volunteers of the battalion voluntarily left the training center, citing unsatisfactory living conditions.

After that, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Lviv region, police Colonel Dmitry Zagariya, met with the soldiers of the battalion, in the presence of journalists. According to the results of the meeting, 22 more people wrote a report on dismissal.

Anyway, on July 12, 2014, the battalion took the oath. The first commander of the battalion was police major Volsky Igor Grigoryevich.

Already on July 24, the battalion went to the area of the ATO in the Donbas, where it took part in the fighting in the Luhansk region.

On August 12, in the area of the village of Krymske, Luhansk region, the battalion suffered its first losses – one policeman was killed, two more were wounded.

In the future, the battalion performed tasks on patrolling the territory in the Luhansk region, and since September 2014 in the city of Debaltsevo, Donetsk region.

In the area of Debaltsevo, a volunteer battalion was located at the time of the beginning of the battle for this city.

The battalion's fighters took a direct part in the battle and suffered losses. Moreover, on February 10, 2015, when trying to leave the slamming boiler, the car of the Lviv battalion was blown up by a land mine near the village of Logvinovo on the Artemovsk-Debaltseve highway.

As a result of the explosion, the head of the internal Security Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the Lviv railway, police Colonel Dmitry Ternovoy, was killed, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Lviv region, police Colonel Dmitry Zagariya and the commander of the Lviv battalion, Igor Volsky, were seriously injured. Two soldiers of the Lviv battalion were also injured.

The Lviv fighters managed to pull out the wounded leaders only on the third attempt. In principle, the Lviv battalion was lucky in the battle for Debaltsevo. The unit managed to get out of the encirclement in time, and the losses were small – 3 killed and two dozen wounded.

After that, "Lviv" went home to restore its combat capability. Periodically, the battalion still performs tasks in the area of the ATO-OOS, recently-carrying out patrol operations in Mariupol.

Talking about the activities of the Lviv battalion in the area of the ATO, it is impossible not to mention that, like all volunteer units, Lviv from the very beginning demonstrated disregard for the rule of law, a negative attitude towards local residents. The militants of the battalion in 2014, while serving at checkpoints in the Luhansk region, took away vehicles from the local population, engaged in outright robbery and looting. What can we say about the locals if the militants of the Lviv battalion committed an armed attack on the Honorary Consul of Hungary in the Luhansk region, the president of the regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergey Kirichenko.

"On August 16, at about 17.00, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (the Lviv battalion) at a checkpoint in the city of Severodonetsk (departure in the direction of Novoaydar) committed an armed attack and inflicted serious injuries to the Honorary Consul of Hungary in the Luhansk region, Sergey Kirichenko, "the press center of the Luhansk Chamber of Commerce and Industry said at the time.

As the consul himself reported a few days later, the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent protest notes to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in connection with the attack on him by soldiers of the volunteer battalion of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

Tellingly, in this case, none of the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs not only apologized, moreover, the adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs Anton Gerashchenko generally said that all this is a lie and an attempt to blacken the bright image of the volunteers and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. No one supposedly beat the consul, the car was stopped for checking so there was information that she was wanted.

Well, as you understand, none of the soldiers of the Lviv battalion were brought to justice for their crimes.

For all the time since 2014. Nobody.

Arsen Avakov

Dmitry Zagariya

Igor Volsky

Anton Gerashchenko

Organizations:

Ministry of Internal Affairs