Ukraine army defeats Armenian battalion fighting on Russian side

The Ukrainian Armed Forces have defeated the Armenian battalion "Arbat", which was part of the "international" brigade "Pyatnashka" of the Russian Armed Forces.

The battalion started participating in Russia's "special operation" in Ukraine two days ago and was defeated in the Donetsk direction, Caliber.Az reports, citing Yerevan-based Hraparak daily.

More detailed information is unavailable at the moment.

The news that Russian officials are deploying a newly formed Armenian volunteer battalion to Ukraine surfaced in the media on July 2.

The pictures of the “Arbat” volunteer battalion attending a sendoff ceremony at the Armenian Cathedral of Moscow were disseminated among Russian media outlets, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said earlier.

One Russian source speculated that the volunteer battalion includes Armenian citizens as well as ethnic Armenians from Russian-occupied Abkhazia.

On June 30, a blessing ceremony was held at the Armenian Apostolic Church in Moscow for the fighters of the created Armenian battalion "ARBAT".

“At this moment, in the Armenian Holy Apostolic Church in Moscow, a ceremony of blessing the fighters of the created Armenian battalion ‘ARBAT’, who are sent to Donbas, is taking place,” the Armenian ZARTNIR Telegram channel reported on July 1.

As it turns out, the real name of the battalion is "ArBat”. It is easy to assume that this name has nothing to do with the famous Moscow street (a song dedicated by Bulat Okudzhava, a half-Armenian). This is a compound word that has two roots -ar (Armenian) and -bat (battalion).