Sich Battalion

The Sich Battalion (Ukrainian: Батальйон "Сiч"), named after the Sich of the Zaporozhian Cossacks which challenged the Polish, Russian, and Turkish rule of Ukraine, is a special police battalion formed from volunteers in the Kiev area. The unit was formed by the Svoboda party in June 2014 and is composed of around 50 volunteers some of whom have prior military service. On 26 August 2014 the battalion had its oath taking ceremony officially making it an active unit. The battalion underwent 2 months of basic training prior to activation, other territorial defense units such as the Svyatyi Mykolai Battalion or Donbass Battalion formed from volunteers at the start of the War in Donbass and began engaging Russian insurgent forces with minimal training or equipment. While Sich Battalion much smaller than the other volunteer territorial defense battalions it was designed for the specific purpose of combating insurgents in the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine.

The head of Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov said a Sich Battalion member was arrested after a member of the National Guard of Ukraine was killed during rioting in Kiev on August 31, 2015.