Russian volunteers join Ukraine’s Siberian Battalion to fight against Putin's troops

On the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, a group of some 30 soldiers practise loading their weapons and firing them at targets in the forest.

On the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, a group of some 30 soldiers practise loading their weapons and firing them at targets in the forest. 

Soon, they will be taking aim at Russian positions. 

But these troopers, who are taking part in basic combat training that thousands have similarly undergone before heading to the frontlines, are not from Ukraine. 

They are Russian citizens who oppose President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and have decided to take up arms to fight alongside Ukrainians against their own homeland.

These volunteers are part of the Siberian Battalion, a new unit formed last summer and is officially part of Ukraine's armed forces. Its members are mostly from ethnic minorities from Russia’s far east.

A former information technology worker from western Siberia, who goes by the military callsign Holod, said he left Russia when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.