1st battalion of territorial defense of the Volyn region

On March 19, 2014, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine decided to create operational headquarters at the regional state administrations of the border regions of Ukraine ^[3] . March 30, 2014 and. about. President of Ukraine A. V. Turchinov instructed the heads of regional administrations to begin the creation of territorial defense battalions in each region of Ukraine ^[4] .

On April 30, 2014, a formal decision was made to assign the functions of creating territorial defense battalions in each region of Ukraine to the regional military commissariats ^[5] .

As of June 13, 2014, the battalion consisted of more than 400 military personnel and was staffed by more than 90% ^[6] .

The battalion took combat training on the basis of the 51st separate mechanized brigade in Vladimir-Volynsky ^[2] .

Manning was completed on June 25, 2014 ^[7] . As of July 2, 2014, 70% of the military were volunteers and 30% were called up during mobilization ^[2] .

On June 13, 2014, the deputy regional military commissioner for educational work V. Bondaruk said that a decision had been made to increase the salary, and the ordinary soldier would receive a salary of 2500 hryvnias per month, and the officers' monetary allowance would be even higher ^[8] .

On August 7, 2014, the military commissar of the Lutsk military commissariat, Lt. Col. V. Khudyk, reported that an ordinary soldier-shooter receives a salary of 2400 hryvnias per month, the salary of officers, sergeants and specialists is higher, and if the soldier is a member of the ATO, they will be paid a bonus of 100% of the salary ^[9] .

The formation of the battalion was carried out using budgetary funds of the Volyn region:

• So, on May 15, 2014, the Volyn Regional Council approved the “Program for the logistics of deployment activities in the field of the first battalion of territorial defense” ^[10] , in accordance with which 2.2 million hryvnias were allocated to the battalion for the purchase of uniforms ^[11]
• July 14, 2014 the battalion received 20 bulletproof vests purchased with funds from the district budget of the Lutsk region of the region and donations to the public ^[12] .
• On July 27, 2014, the battalion received 80 bulletproof vests (50 of them were purchased with the funds of the city budget of Lutsk allocated on July 21, 2014 in the amount of 95 thousand hryvnias ^[13] , the remaining 30 with the funds of the Solidarity military organization) ^[14]

In addition, extrabudgetary funds were used:

• So, in late July - early August 2014, the headquarters of "Maidan Self-Defense" handed over to the battalion 15 body armor, auto parts, a batch of food ^[15] and medicines and several binoculars ^[16]
• August 15, 2014 fundThe Volyn Patriots handed over to the battalion a batch of equipment and property (12 Polish-made Kevlar helmets, gloves, a radio, etc.) ^[17] , another party of equipment (body armor, helmets, thermal imagers, radio stations) was transferred by the Strength and Honor party ^{[18 ]}
• October 3, 2014 charity fund Volyn-2014 transferred 130 thousand hryvnias of equipment and property to the battalion (two mini-power plants, 400 pairs of insulated boots, 200 raincoats, 350 sets of warm clothes, etc.) ^[19]
• at the end of October 2014, volunteers from the Sertsya Volini charity fund repaired two SUVs that entered the battalion ^[20]

On the 20th of July 2014, the battalion was sent to the Chernihiv region to strengthen border protection with the Russian Federation ^[21] .

September 16, 2014 soldiers of the battalion reported that the battalion was sent to the war zone ^[22]

On September 28, 2014, the battalion was in defensive positions in the Debaltseve region ^[23] .

At the beginning of October 2014, the battalion was in the combat zone - as the battalion commander said, on October 2, 2014, one soldier of the battalion was wounded ^[24] .

November 15, 2014 in the village . An olkhovatka of Donetsk region as a result of a shell falling into the dugout ^[25] killed one soldier of the battalion ^[26] .

On November 24, 2014, in the area of ​​the Olkhovatskaya mine, one soldier of the battalion was killed during artillery shelling ^[27] .

In addition, one soldier of the battalion was captured ^[28] (in February 2016, during the exchange of prisoners, he was returned to the Ukrainian side) ^[29] .

After 93 days in the combat zone ^[30] , at the end of December 2014 the battalion was withdrawn for rest and rotation ^[31] and, as of February 28, 2015, was in Vladimir-Volynsky ^[30]

On January 20, 2015, it was announced that the 1st territorial defense battalion of the Volyn region would be part of the newly formed 14th mechanized brigade as the 99th separate motorized infantry battalion ^[32] .

In accordance with the decree of the President of Ukraine P.A. Poroshenko No. 44 dated February 11, 2016, the Volyn Regional State Administration was instructed to provide patronage assistance to the battalion ^[33] .

The personnel of the battalion is armed with AK-74 ^[34] , AKS-74U ^[23] and machine guns RPK-74 ^[34] .

The availability of personal protective equipment was unsatisfactory ^{[2] [35]} - as of July 16, 2014, 8% of the soldiers of the battalion were provided with bulletproof vests ^[36] (later, “Maidana Self-Defense” handed over to the battalion another 90 home-made “people's bulletproof vests”) ^[37] .

As of July 22, 2014, the battalion had automobile equipment (KamAZ, ZIL, GAZ, Ural trucks ^[38] and several school buses) and one BRDM-2RHB ^{[21] [39]} . In August, the battalion received the personal jeep of one of the servicemen ^[21] .

On September 12, 2014, the Volyn Oblast Administration handed over to the battalion four vehicles confiscated by the customs ^[40] : a Volkswagen Crafter minibus of 2012, a minibus of Mercedes Sprinter of 2006, a minibus of Citroen Jumper of 2003, and a SsangYong Kyron of 2007 ^[41] .

On September 17, 2014, it was announced that the battalion would receive armored vehicles from the Ministry of Defense ^[42] . On September 22, 2014, the battalion received six BRDM-2s , but already on October 3, 2014, the battalion commander Sergei Kozak reported that out of the six armored vehicles received, only one was fully operational, and the remaining five needed repair ^[24] .

As of February 28, 2015, part of the equipment assigned to the battalion required repair ^[30] .