Weaponry Used by Pro-Ukraine Belarusian Combatants Since Russia's Invasion
Weapons Used by Foreign Legions and Combatants in Ukraine - Part 2
Thousands of foreign volunteer fighters have poured into Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion in February of 2022. Of these, the Belarusian contingent has been particularly noticeable in the stream of battlefield footage posted online.
You can read the first part of Militant Wire’s "Weapons Used by Foreign Legions and Combatants in Ukraine" series, examining the arsenal of Georgian warriors here:
In addition to the Georgian Legion covered in the first installment of this series, another foreign battalion established under the Ukrainian Armed Forces is the “Kastus Kalinouski Battalion” or “Kastus Kalinouski Regiment” (“Połk Kalinoŭskaha”).
This battalion was formed in March 2022 by Belarusian warriors affiliated with the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the fight against Russian Forces.
When examining the weapons used by fighters of the Kastus Kalinouski Battalion, we see that they have much more modern arms than many other foreign battalions. Together with the Georgian Legion, they are probably the best and most modern equipped foreign unit on the Ukrainian side of the war.
When the group was first established, its fighters generally used 5.45x39mm AK-74 assault rifles, just like many battalions and groups under Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Vulkan-M (Malyuk) rifles (which are domestic and bullpup versions of AK-74 & AKM rifles), AK-74 rifles, and RPK-74 LMGs are frequently used by the Ukrainian army. The DB15 rifle, on the other hand, is a semi-automatic rifle that can be easily found even in civilian markets.
However, as other countries supplied and sold weapons to Ukraine, Belarusian fighters began to use more modern and diverse weapons.
The first of these weapons to emerge was the Czech production 5.56x45mm CZ 806 BREN-2 assault rifle.
