https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary%27s_battalion
The St Mary’s Battalion (батальйону «Свята Марія») was a (Pro-Ukraine) Volunteer Battalion founded as a company of the Azov Battalion by Dmytro Korchinsky and Dmytro Linko, initially known as the “Jesus Christ Hundred” or “Jesus Christ Company” («Роту Ісуса Христа»), it later moved to become part of the Shakhtarsk Battalion and then became an independent unit of the Ukrainian Special Tasks Patrol Police, known as the St Mary’s Police Company (#Рота поліції «Свята Марія») and then finally as the St Mary’s Battalion.
The group was linked to Korchinsky’s Brotherhood movement:
The Shakhtarsk battalion initially included the Jesus Christ Hundred, linked to ultranationalist Dmytro Korchinsky’s Brotherhood right-wing group. But this group later became a separate unit, called the St. Mary Battalion.
Some of the battalion’s veterans also later represented the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko in Ukrainian elections1.
The Battalion ended their role in the Donbas War in 2016, but activists from the Brotherhood movement later returned to the war after the 2022 Russian invasion, while Linko went on to found the Stugna Special Unit:
The volunteers of the Bratstvo, Ukrainian for brotherhood, have a peculiar status, technically independent from Ukraine’s army but operating side by side with the official forces. Their arm’s-length status offers deniability.
Their work ranges from the kidnapping of senior Kremlin officials, to the destruction of key military infrastructure and the downing of enemy aircraft on Russian territory.
It might seem odd for a battalion such as theirs to allow their stories to be heard in public. But that is to misunderstand their purpose. In everything they do, there is a single message they want to send. “It is very easy for us to cross the Russian border,” says Vladyslav, the youngest of the three, with a smile.
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Footnotes
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https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nationalities-papers/article/between-frontline-and-parliament-ukrainian-political-parties-and-irregular-armed-groups-in-20142019/90BAFE7AA179511DA2B58240D943D8C4#:~:text=armed%20volunteer%20movement.-,The%20Radical%20Party%E2%80%99s%20list%20for%20the%20proportional%20part%20of%20the%202014,3,-The%20most%20prominent ↩