UPDATED: Ukraine captures Slovak dressed in Russian uniform

A person from Slovakia wearing a Russian uniform surrendered to Ukrainian soldiers, according to a video shared on social media by a Ukrainian journalist.

The captured man introduced himself in broken Russian as “Jaroslav Galajčík”, despite his surname being “Halajčík” (unlike Slovak, Russian does not have the letter H but this letter is equivalent to the Russian G, ed.). He told journalist Aleksandr Kachura that the Ukrainians had captured him near Lyman, Donetsk.

According to Aktuality.sk, a Slovak news website that broke the story on June 3, the man told the Ukrainians that he initially assisted the Russians with the unloading of vehicles.

“He claimed that he had not been involved in combat activities. However, as a contractor (a person who signed a contract with the army, ed.) he was then sent to the front,” said Kachura, adding that Ukrainian soldiers found “a lot of propaganda literature on his phone about the alleged genocide of the Donbas people.”

The stories of the alleged genocide have been a major propaganda message echoed by pro-Russian and Kremlin voices.

Halajčík was supposedly part of an international unit with Indians, Nepalese and Mongolians. The Slovak was promised €2,000 a month for his service.

“He was the only Slovak in his unit. A single citizen of the European Union. And they poked fun at him for being a spy,” said Kachura.

It is still not clear if Ukraine has notified Slovakia about the captured Slovak. The Slovak embassy in Kyiv is said to have no information about the man from the video.

A dream of living in Siberia

Unlike the Slovak authorities, the Czech daily Deník N managed to interview the Slovak in an unknown location in the Donetsk Region and under the supervision of members of the Security Service of Ukraine, of which one spoke Slovak, several days after the first reports appeared in the media. The Slovak said that he agreed to the interview so that his mother learned that he was alive.

Halajčík confirmed that he had helped the Russians dig trenches.

“I thought I was going to dig bunkers. And that’s what I did at first. From February 13, I was in the woods in the Luhansk Region. I also kept loading and unloading Ural, Russian trucks.”

In April 2024, he said that his unit was transformed into an assault infantry.