The uniforms of the members of the battalion come from all over, there is no real unit. Similarly, each member is free to affix the coats of arms and emblems of his choice. The Pahonie, which was the official coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as well as that of Belarus in 1918 and much later, in 1991, on the occasion of the country’s short-lived independence, has become the official emblem of the battalion. The Belarusian Pahonie differs slightly from the Lithuanian Vyst, but the essence remains the same: a conquering warrior riding a prancing horse, sword and shield in hand. April 30th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

Most volunteers are given a weapon fairly quickly, for which they are responsible and which they will keep throughout their enlistment. These weapons sometimes need to be handled by several servants. Here, three recruits are practising handling a machine gun while the chief instructor, a former Russian army colonel nicknamed MMM, has thrown a smoke bomb. The mounds in the foreground are the result of trench digging on the battalion’s training track. An afternoon was spent building a network of trenches in preparation for the fighting in the east of the country, which is now more like positional warfare than urban guerrilla warfare. May 10th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

The training of the recruits is extensive and includes a large number of scenarios, such as intercepting a vehicle and controlling its occupants. The instructor, a Belarusian MMA fighter who has lived in the United States, reviews all the possibilities, shares his experience and gives advice to the volunteers. The weapons in the photos are mostly unloaded, but the recruits get used to them by carrying them regularly. In the centre of the picture, from behind, Bit is in charge of a squad. He arrived a few weeks ago. Originally from Minsk, he did not inform his family of his presence in the battalion. April 30th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

After a week spent with the battalion, Bit was appointed to head a team. Although he has no military experience, he is now responsible for a dozen volunteers who arrived shortly after him. Each week brings a new batch of Belarusians eager to join the battalion like Bit and his companions. The first weeks are dedicated to the evaluation of the newcomers. Although the volunteers’ motivations are important, not all the profiles correspond to the needs of the battalion. After several months in Ukraine, Bit is now in Poland. At the end of his training, the battalion commanders offered him a position in a field more related to logistics than to combat. May 5th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

Znamenosets (Flag bearer) poses with the flag bearing the coat of arms of the city of Minsk. He came to Ukraine with a wide selection of flags (European, Ukrainian, Belarusian, etc.). In Belarus, he has had many problems with his family, including his mother, who has repeatedly denounced him to the authorities for his participation in opposition demonstrations during the 2020 election campaign. Briefly imprisoned and duly registered, he made the decision fairly quickly to leave Belarus to go to a neighbouring country for his own safety. Unlike the majority of volunteers in the Kastous-Kalinowski Battalion, Znamenosets agrees to testify openly, to show to the greatest number that the battalion welcomes all sensibilities. He also believes that if all opponents took the risk of testifying publicly as he does, the Belarusian security services, outnumbered, would be unable to persecute their relatives as they fear. May 15th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

One of the most regular training sessions is called «tactics». It consists of knowing when, how and under what circumstances to use your weapon. Regularly, recruits are under the responsibility of an experienced instructor who is well-versed in combat techniques for handling weapons in real conditions. The weapons given to the recruits are not loaded and the instructors regularly check their condition. In their rooms, volunteers regularly assemble and disassemble their weapons until they are familiar with all their components. They are not required to carry the weapon at all times, but they are involved in a wide range of activities, which allows them to become familiar with it quickly. April 29th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

Žuk (Beetle) was born and raised in the city of Soligorsk in the Minsk Oblast. It is a well-known mining town in Belarus. As a young man he practiced traditional Belarusian dance, without any real interest in politics. It was an incident that marked him as a teenager that pushed him to evolve; a friend of his sister once brought opposition stickers from Minsk where she lived. Žuk put one in the toilet of his school. No harm done. «When I saw the impact that a small sticker had on the school administration, I realised that something was wrong. That a very simple thing like a sticker could make people as mad as they were. There was no political motivation behind it, it was initially for fun, but the reaction of people and the school opened my eyes.» Today, he is preparing to fight the Russian forces. April 29th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

Kurt is 61 years old. A press photographer, he had a tidy life, cycling all over Europe, with 3 children and 5 grandchildren, and he led a busy life, as the many photo albums on his Facebook page show. «A few years ago, I cycled over 3,000 kilometres from Poland to France. Seventy-seven days on a budget of 160 euros, and now I’m in Ukraine learning to use a Kalashnikov. I blame this government for forcing me to choose this life. The 2020 elections have put everything in question. Today, he sees only the armed struggle as a way to defeat the regime of the Belarusian president. He left his family to come here and share a room with three other volunteers much younger than him. Here, he stands guard in front of a room. May 11th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

Volunteers return to their barracks after the morning roll call. Every morning, they meet for roll call after having breakfast and a short physical education session. It is here that instructions for the day are given as well as important news, especially from the front. It is possible that high ranking Belarusian or Ukrainian officers come to motivate the troops. While some volunteers have been in the camp for only a few days or weeks, others have been there for months and are looking forward to their next departure. The aspiring fighters willingly go through the day’s exercises without protest. April 30th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

The recruits are mainly trained in the use of small arms and especially assault rifles, but sometimes they are taught less conventional weaponry. Valentin (left), who is also a gunsmith, shows Mir (Peace) how to use an American Javelin portable anti-tank missile launcher that has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. Mir spent his early youth in Belarus, but grew up and lived mainly in Poland. Unlike the other members of the Battalion, he testifies openly. He is not here to defend Belarus as such, but rather the word «freedom». May 12th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

In room 25, about fifteen volunteers have put their sleeping bags next to each other. Between them, the volunteers comment on the political news and the conduct of the war. Also, it has become a kind of ritual, many come from all over the building to have their hair shaved. Generally, the recruits wait a few weeks before taking the plunge. May 12th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

The battalion’s training centre does not offer many opportunities for recreation. There are few outings, Sundays are usually off, but most of the recruits stay on the base. On the ground floor, on the first floor, according to the tradition in this part of the world, there is an old ping-pong table which is sometimes the scene of a Homeric match between idle recruits. Van Gogh (back) is on duty, but he can’t help playing with one of his companions. The shifts can last up to six hours and in the middle of the night not much happens. In the end, the volunteers spend a lot of time waiting. May 9th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

MMM is 69 years old and was born in Sibermorsk, Murmansk region, Russia. He left the Russian army with the rank of colonel. «I graduated from the Moscow War Academy. I spent 30 years in the Red Army. I went to Afghanistan. My friends from that time are no longer active, I am the only one still standing,» he explains. «I am Russian but my son was born in Ukraine as well as his children and his wife, I have to protect my own family from any enemy,» continues MMM who met the first Belarusian fighters in Donbass in 2015. Today, MMM is one of the instructors of the Kastous-Kalinowsky Battalion and one of the few non-Belarusians. In charge of the new recruits, he has to deal with a multitude of different profiles: «There are three types of people who join the army, the first are the patriots committed from Donbass, the second are those who have some military experience, and the third are those who have to be trained intensively because they are real civilians without military experience.» May 10th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest, but that doesn’t stop volunteers who have skills to share from proposing activities that others are free to follow. Serafin, who lived in several European countries before getting married and moving to a southern European country, is an avid climber. Using harnesses and ropes, he shows his fellow students how to abseil and teaches them the basics of this discipline. May 1st, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

Andrei, 53, shows me photos of his grandfather, a Polish soldier in the First World War. «I am here to honour him, to continue his fight for freedom. Belarus shares hundreds of years of history with Poland and Lithuania. The Belarusian language has many similarities with Polish or Ukrainian. It is common for Belarusians to have Polish ancestors. Andrei comes from the city of Polotsk, one of the oldest in this part of the world. The first historical reference dates back to 862. At that time, it was considered the capital of a principality that more or less corresponds to today’s Belarus. May 6th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

If the last recruits are offered to sleep on the ground on floor mats, the first arrivals enjoy the luxury of rooms with 4 or 5 beds, sometimes even a refrigerator. Also, invariably, one finds in all the rooms a Belarusian flag or even a Ukrainian flag. The latter has been deliberately aged and soiled to give it a style. Visne (Cherry), in the foreground, is Belarusian, although his family has lived in Odessa, Ukraine, for many years. He is almost 25 years old and a paramedic. When the Russian invasion started, «I tried to join but they didn’t want me, I am not Ukrainian,» he says. Afterwards, I sent a message to the battalion without any answer, I insisted and finally they told me it was OK. Since then, he has become responsible for the paramedical training of recruits. May 5th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

Sport is an integral part of daily training. Several sessions a day with an instructor whose back is almost completely tattooed. For Ragnar, who used to be a member of the riot police in Belarus, «the training here is better than the training I received when I was in the army. It’s hard, and sometimes it can feel like it’s breaking us, and it can, but it’s what makes us stronger, and when the time comes, we’ll be ready, remember we’re doing all this to go to war,» he concludes, tapping his watch as if to emphasise the imminence of the moment. Ragnar does not hide his ultra-nationalist opinions, but here he has «only brothers in arms, whatever our opinions, we are a family. May 10th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

Every Sunday, those who want to can attend a religious ceremony. We don’t really have the opportunity to go to church,» Padre tells me. I’m just a believer who serves mass. It was my idea to do such a service, I thought it would be nice to have something like that when I arrived, I asked our commander, he gave me a coin.» Padre studied theology and even thought of becoming a Catholic priest, much to the displeasure of his traditionally Orthodox parents. Antimilitarist but fully committed to activism in Belarus, Padre is firmly opposed to the Lukashenko regime. In general, less than ten people attend the Sunday service, as religion is far from predominant among the volunteers. There is a great variety of beliefs within the battalion,» he says with a laugh. There are Christians, anarchists, ecologists, pagans and so on. I can’t say that God is very important here, but if people want to pray, they are welcome. May 1st, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

Son (Dream in Belarusian) is one of the few women in the battalion. She is assigned to the stock. A member of the Belarusian ecological party, she and her environmental activist friends have sometimes been considered useful idiots of the Lukashenko government. Yet when asked, she says: «Fighting to preserve the environment in Belarus is also a political issue, especially on the nuclear issue. Very active in Belarus, she was involved in many opposition struggles. Now she is involved to show the sceptics that progressive activists like her have their place in the armed struggle. Asked about her husband, she says that he «is there without being there», in other words, he is at the front. As for her future, she says: «I will think about the future tomorrow. Her advice to young women tempted to join the battalion? Fight like girls,» she says with a laugh. Son is one of the few people willing to show her face. «I am known as an activist in the associative movement in Belarus, seeing me shows people that the battalion is open to everyone.»  May 2nd, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

For the past few days, room 25 has been a barber shop. Today, it is Suhoi’s turn to get his hair clipped; he still wants to keep his beard. Like many recruits, he has a large number of tattoos, many of which refer to Belarus and the fight for independence. Suhoi has a huge ongoing tattoo that takes up his entire back, a large Belarusian knight (Pahonie) with the motto Žyvie Bielaruś (‘Long live Belarus’) in large Gothic letters. The tattoo is not finished, Suhoi prefers to wait and have it done in Minsk, «once everything is finished.» May 1st, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

Regularly, the recruits go to what they call «the range»: a shooting range located in a Ukrainian army base on the outskirts of Kyiv where they can practice handling weapons in real conditions, under the supervision of their instructors. Kit (Whale) is one of them, one of the most admired in the battalion itself. He enlisted at 18 in the Donbass with other Belarusians, and at 26 is one of the veterans behind the creation of the battalion. Kit and his comrades have participated in several engagements, including one in March 2022 near Butcha that cost the life of one of his friends who, like him, was engaged in the Donbass with the Azov regiment. May 5th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

Meals are provided either by the Ukrainian army or by a nearby restaurant. This part of the logistics is provided by the Ukrainian army, which delivers several times a day to the base, which does not have a kitchen as such. Three times a day, recruits serve meals that invariably consist of semolina, rice, pasta, chicken, meat in sauce, bacon or soups, all topped off with a large amount of sweet tea or kompot, a kind of dried fruit juice typical of the region. All the recruits find themselves doing service, it is part of the attributions like standing guard at the checkpoint in front of the building, or patrolling in front of the training centre. The meals are quickly dispatched, in 10, 15 minutes, in order to leave room for the following ones because the room is not big and all the recruits cannot fit in it at once. May 1st, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

Lev (Lion) prepares for tactical training. Although several recruits share the same room, this does not mean that they are involved in the same operations and are at the same level of training. Lev has been here for over a month and his instructors have told him to be ready. This usually means that he will soon be sent to the front line at one of the battalion’s operational bases. Engaged in the defence of Kyiv, the men of the Kastous-Kalinowski battalion are regularly sent into contact with Russian forces, as evidenced by their Telegram channel where the latest feats of arms of the Belarusians are shared as well as appeals for donations or videos to raise awareness of the Ukrainian cause. April 30th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

It is not uncommon to come across veterans like Psychologue in the corridors of the training centre. It was on 3 March 2022, in the vicinity of Boutcha, that Psychologue lost his leg in the ambush where his friend Ilya, known as Litvin, 27, was killed. Also a veteran of the Donbass war, Psychologue is one of the Belarusians who form the core of this battalion. Having returned to civilian life after 2015, but having remained in Ukraine where many of them had rebuilt their lives, most of these Belarusians decided, following the Russian invasion, to set up an exclusively Belarusian battalion, first to help Ukraine and, secondly, to possibly oppose Lukashenko’s regime more frontally. May 4th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)

All recruits receive standard equipment when they join the battalion: sleeping bag, uniform, floor mats, shoes, protective waistcoats, helmet, etc., and of course a weapon, most often an AK47 assault rifle. Although they are not required to carry it with them at all times, volunteers must take care of it and keep it close by, so everyone keeps their AK47 next to them, especially at night or during the many breaks and naps that intersect the days of those on guard duty or assigned to a particular post, usually in shifts lasting several hours. April 30th, 2022, Kyiv (Ukraine)