Because of Vladimir Putin’s strong alliance with Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko, Russia has been able to launch attacks on Ukrainian targets from its neighbor’s territory. A volunteer battalion of Belarussians, on the other hand, has defied President Putin’s alliance with their country by formally joining Ukraine’s armed forces. Earlier today, the Belarus ‘Kalinovsky’ battalion joined the fight to drive occupying Russian forces out of Lukyanovka, a district north of Kyiv.

On Friday, the ‘Kalinovsky’ battalion formally joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in a devastating betrayal for President Putin.

To commemorate Belarus’ Freedom Day, a video of Belarusian troops taking an oath and being formally admitted to the Ukrainian military was posted.

Following today’s victory in Lukyanovka, battalion troops displayed Russian hardware that they had either destroyed or seized.

“Putin, all your Russian peace will die with you,” one of the Belarusian commanders said to the camera.

There are blown up vehicles but the main thing is that there are many trophies.

“There is a tank standing over there.”

The Belarus ‘Kalinovsky’ battalion formally joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the ultimate betrayal.

He then displayed his “collected trophies,” which included two infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) and a Russian tank.

Officials in Ukraine confirmed that 40 Russian troops were killed in the fighting, which also resulted in the destruction of nine iFVs and two tanks.

Users on Reddit predicted a revolt within Belarus in response to the video of Belarussian forces fighting for Ukraine.

“Obviously, when these guys are done in Ukraine, they will pay a surprise visit to Luka,” RedditTipiak wrote.

“It’s great to see such a subset within a Putin puppet-regime,” said another user, Nickleeham.

“It will be really funny to see Putin lose Belarus while failing to acquire Ukraine,” kungpowgoat said.

“Someday, I hope those guys retake their own country with the knowledge they gain from this conflict,” IceboundDacha said.

“After this, they will literally have more combat experience than the entire Belarusian army combined.”

The battalion was named after Kastu Kalinovsky, a 19th-century Belarussian leader of the 1863 January Uprising against the then-Russian Empire.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian opposition leader, endorsed the battalion, boasting that “more and more people from Belarus join to help Ukrainians defend their country.”

President Lukashenko, on the other hand, referred to them as “crazed citizens.”

This comes as Russia has struggled to make significant inroads into Ukraine since the invasion began last month.