After Surviving Soviet Repression, a Turkic Minority Is Being Divided in Ukraine

Serhan Halilovic, a devoted and fearless grenadier with the 113th Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces, is a Meskhetian Turk first and a Ukrainian second. He is willing to die for Ukraine — the country he grew up in, where his daughter was born and for which he will bear the scars of war for life. The one thing he is not willing to do is kill a fellow Turk.

It almost happened in Bakhmut, during the longest and bloodiest battle of the war so far, which lasted seven months and caused enormous casualties among the Ukrainians and Russians on either side. Halilovic’s 209th Battalion was under endless bombardment, firing back at enemy positions as part of a rotation that ensured a constant stream of soldiers ready to replace the dead. Deep into the battle, they discovered six Russians hiding among some trees. At first, they thought they were Kadyrovites, Chechens loyal to the head of their Russian republic who have a fearsome reputation for cruelty.