Polish-Ukrainian Peace Force Battalion
Encyclopedia
Polish–Ukrainian Peace Force Battalion (POLUKRBAT) or Ukrainian-Polish Peace Force Battalion (UKRPOLBAT) is a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

-Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 peacekeeping
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....

 battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...

, formed in the late 1990s expressly "for participation in international peace-keeping and humanitarian operations under the auspices of international organizations".

The battalion can be used in international missions approved by the UN Security Council or by similar organization involved in maintaining international peace and security, per the provisions of Chapter 8 of the United Nations Charter
United Nations Charter
The Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of the international organization called the United Nations. It was signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on 26 June 1945, by 50 of the 51 original member countries...

 or within international forces formed with the approval of the UN Security Council. The battalion can be made fully operational after 30 days from the receipt of a request from the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

.

The unit is mutually financed by Ukraine and Poland while other countries provided assistance in non-military aspects, mainly in the advancement of knowledge of English among the troops since English is the operational language of the unit.

Since 2000, the battalion of 545 Polish and 267 Ukrainian soldiers is deployed as part of KFOR, an international peacekeeping force in Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

, the Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

n province currently under UN administration
United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo or UNMIK is the interim civilian administration in Kosovo, under the authority of the United Nations. The mission was established on 10 June 1999 by Security Council Resolution 1244...

.

In June 2006, the Ukrainian contingent was reduced to 179 soldiers.

Creation

The Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

 and Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

 governments reached a preliminary agreement to create a joint peacekeeping military formation on October 5, 1995; the first training started in 1996 and the respective national units to comprise the battalion were committed in 1997 when on November 26, the Ministers of Defense of Ukraine and Poland
Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Poland
Ministry of National Defence is the office of government in Poland under the Minister of Defence. During the Second Polish Republic and World War II it was called the Ministry of Military Affairs...

 signed the appropriate agreement in Warsaw. The Polish component was split from the 14th Armored Brigade and the Ukrainian component was split from the 310th Mechanized Regiment of the 24th Mechanized Division
24th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
style="float: right; clear: right; background-color: transparent"| The 24th Samaro-Ulyanovsk Division was a rifle, then a motor-rifle division of the Red Army of the USSR...

 in Yavoriv
Yavoriv
Yavoriv is a city located in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Yavoriv Raion and rests approximately 50 km west of the oblast capital, Lviv....

.

The unit was named after two historic military leaders of the respective nations: Polish-Lithuania Hetman
Hetmans of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Hetmans of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were the highest-ranking military officers, second only to the King, in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The first Polish title of Grand Crown Hetman was created in 1505. The title of hetman was given to the leader of Polish Army and till 1581 it was...

 Jan Karol Chodkiewicz
Jan Karol Chodkiewicz
Jan Karol Chodkiewicz was a famous Lithuanian military commander and one of the most prominent noblemen of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.-Biography:...

 and Zaporozhian Hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny, whose mutual campaign that brought about the stinging defeat of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 in the Battle of Khotyn (1621)
Battle of Khotyn (1621)
The Battle of Khotyn was a battle fought between a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth army and an invading Ottoman Imperial army. Here, for a whole month , the Commonwealth forces halted the Ottoman advance...

 was one of the very few historic examples of Poles and Ukrainians cooperating together against a mutual enemy.

However, strong resistance from the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) to the idea of a joint formation with Poland—the country at the time in line to join NATO (the accession took place in March, 1999)—became the main obstacle to the formal creation of the battalion, despite continued efforts of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, which favored the idea.

After the Rada voted down the law several times, the Ministry devised a workaround to overcome the parliamentary opposition, and in early 2000 the military announced that in the upcoming rotation of the Ukrainian servicemen of the Kosovo mission scheduled for July 2000, the ministry would deploy the Ukrainian part of battalion, claiming that since the Ukrainian participation in the mission per se had already been approved by the parliament, choosing the unit to replace the troops during the rotation did not need additional parliamentary approval. Fearing that such inevitable deployment would undermine its prestige, the parliament ratified the 1997 agreement on April 6, 2000.

However, on the very next day, April 7, the deputies of the Communist Party of Ukraine
Communist Party of Ukraine
The Communist Party of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine, currently led by Petro Symonenko.The party fights the Ukrainian national self-determination by identifying any Ukrainian national parties as the National-Fascist ones The Communist Party of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine,...

 registered a protest claiming the ratification took place with procedural violations as many of the deputies registered to have voted in support for the law were, in fact, absent from the parliamentary session. The protest stated that proposed changes in the deployment scheme would turn the Ukrainian troops into a "cannon fodder
Cannon fodder
Cannon fodder is an informal, derogatory term for military personnel who are regarded or treated as expendable in the face of enemy fire. The term is generally used in situations where soldiers are forced to deliberately fight against hopeless odds in an effort to achieve a strategic goal...

" noting that according to the attachment specifying the unit's military equipment, most live ammunition of the battalion are to be carried by the Ukrainian troops while the Polish part would only be partially equipped with weaponry but would mostly carry equipment for the medical and communication tasks. The protest, however, had no consequence and the law, signed by Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994, to 23 January 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival, incumbent Leonid Kravchuk...

, then the President of Ukraine
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...

, went into effect.

Mission

The mission of the battalion as a part of Kosovo International peacekeeping force started in July, 2000. Before deployment, the Ukrainian troops undertook special training in the Yavoriv
Yavoriv
Yavoriv is a city located in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Yavoriv Raion and rests approximately 50 km west of the oblast capital, Lviv....

 center, the only Ukrainian boot camp that provides training for mountain warfare. The final multinational military exercise in Yavoriv was attended by the Ukrainian and Polish ministers of defense.

The unit's service received good reviews from the force's high command and a positive regard from the Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

 locals, both Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...

 and Albanians
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...

.

The Major tasks of the Battalion are:
  • Participation in peace support activities in the area of responsibility.
  • Execution of functions:
    • patrolling;
    • guard-duty on observational posts;
    • convoy and escort of local inhabitants;
    • protection of schools and churches

Ukrainian Units

Ukrainian units are based in Camp Bondsteel
Camp Bondsteel
Camp Bondsteel is the main base of the United States Army under KFOR command in Kosovo. Located near Uroševac in the eastern part of Kosovo, the base serves as the NATO headquarters for KFOR's Multinational Brigade East . The base is named after Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient United States...

 and Camp Breza near the Brezovica village. From 1999 to 2006, units were also stationed in Camp Golden Lion and Camp White Eagle near the village Raca.
Rotation Unit Size Commander Dates Deployed
1st 1st Separate Special Battalion 321 Lieutenant colonel Volodymyr Shkurat September 1, 1999 -
2nd 1st Separate Special Battalion 327 Lieutenant colonel Viktor Ganuschak
3rd 1st Separate Special Battalion 322 Major Serhiy Karnaushenko August 8, 2002 - August 7, 2003
4th 1st Separate Special Battalion 321 Colonel Valerij Suprigan August 7, 2003 -
5th 1st Separate Special Battalion 321 Lieutenant colonel Serhiy Karnaushenko
6th 1st Separate Special Battalion 262 Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 Viktor Kopachunsky
August 2005 - August 11, 2006
7th 30th Mechanized Brigade
30th Mechanized Brigade (Ukraine)
The 30th Mechanized Brigade is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.The full name of the Brigade is 30th Separate Guards Mechanized Novohrad-Volynskyi Rivne Orders of the Red Banner and Suvorov Brigade, .-World War II:...

179 Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 Oleksandr Pavliuk
August 11, 2006 - April 10, 2007
8th 95th Airmobile Brigade
95th Airmobile Brigade (Ukraine)
The 95th Separate Airmobile Brigade , the main ground forces component of Ukraine’s rapid reaction force. Brigade is located in Zhytomyr.The brigade is one of the Ukrainian Partnership for Peace units.-History:...

178 Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 Yevhen Chumachenko
April 10, 2007 - October 9, 2007
9th 30th Mechanized Brigade
30th Mechanized Brigade (Ukraine)
The 30th Mechanized Brigade is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.The full name of the Brigade is 30th Separate Guards Mechanized Novohrad-Volynskyi Rivne Orders of the Red Banner and Suvorov Brigade, .-World War II:...

179 Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 Oleksandr Nesterenko
October 9, 2007 - April 12, 2008
10th 72nd Mechanized Brigade
72nd Mechanized Brigade (Ukraine)
The 72nd Mechanized Brigade is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. It was previously named the 29th Rifle Division and then the 72nd Guards Rifle Division of the Soviet Ground Forces.-World War II:...

181 Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 Oleksandr Zahorodny
April 12, 2008 - October 2008(expected)
11th 25th Airborne Brigade
25th Airborne Brigade (Ukraine)
The 25th Separate Dnipropetrovsk Airborne Brigade is an airborne formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. .It is the only airmobile unit of Ukrainian Airborne Forces which has BMD-1 and BMD-2 airborne infantry fighting vehicles in its inventory...

185 October 2008(expected) -

See also

  • Lithuanian-Polish Peace Force Battalion (LITPOLBAT)
  • Lithuanian–Polish–Ukrainian Brigade
    Lithuanian–Polish–Ukrainian Brigade
    Lithuanian–Polish–Ukrainian Brigade is a planned multinational brigade consisting of units from the Lithuanian, Polish and Ukrainian armies. An agreement on its creation was signed on November 16, 2009. The brigade is to reach operational status in autumn 2011...

     (LITPOLUKRBRIG)

External links

  • Roman Woronowycz, , The Ukrainian Weekly
    The Ukrainian Weekly
    The Ukrainian Weekly is the oldest English-language newspaper of the Ukrainian diaspora in the United States, and North America.Founded by the Ukrainian National Association, and published continuously since October 6, 1933, archived copies of the newspaper are available at leading libraries in the...

    , January 1, 2001
  • KFOR POLAND: Seeing Both Sides of the Balkans, Warsaw Voice
    Warsaw Voice
    Warsaw Voice: Polish and Central European Review is an English language newspaper printed in Poland, concentrating on news about Poland and its neighbours. First released in October 1988, it is a general news magazine with sections on political, economic, social and cultural news and with opinions...

    , June 24, 2001
  • Photos
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