Russian propaganda tries to present the war as a confrontation between “Russia and Ukraine”. But among those fighting on Ukraine’s side are people for whom Moscow is not simply a geopolitical adversary, but the imperial centre that has dominated their nations for generations.
The clearest example is the Chechens.
The Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion has fought for Ukraine since 2014. After the full-scale invasion, its fighters took part in the defence of Kyiv, while its Adam Group was among the units involved in the liberation of Izium. Chechen formations also fought in Bakhmut. In 2025, the battalion’s commanders openly described the war in Ukraine as a continuation of the struggle for Chechen independence.
The Sheikh Mansur Battalion also fights on Ukraine’s side. Its members are supporters of an independent Ichkeria, many of them veterans of earlier Chechen wars. In 2025, its fighters said that growing recruitment had led different groups to deploy to the Luhansk and Donetsk directions.
Another example is the Siberian Battalion, whose ranks include Yakut and Buryat volunteers. It fought in the battle for Avdiivka and took part in the March 2024 raid into Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions alongside other Russian volunteer formations. In July 2026, Ukrainian military intelligence released footage showing the battalion operating on the Zaporizhzhia front.
Crimean Tatars are also serving in Ukraine’s defence forces. According to Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, around 2,000 Crimean Tatars have joined the Ukrainian armed forces; Crimean Tatar formations were created following Russia’s occupation of Crimea.
This matters.
The empire forces subjugated peoples to fight for it. But some of those peoples are now fighting against the empire.
For a Chechen, this is a struggle for Ichkeria. For a Crimean Tatar, it is a struggle to return home. For peoples of Siberia, it is a chance to imagine their republics without Moscow’s control.
Ukraine has become the place where these struggles intersect.
And that is another dimension of the war that Moscow would rather conceal:
This is not only Ukraine’s war for survival. It is also a war in which representatives of Russia’s subjugated peoples have the opportunity to turn their weapons against the imperial centre.
