Kyiv, Ukraine – When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, 31-year-old Johnny from St. Petersburg set a goal.

He wanted to overthrow Vladimir Putin’s government.

He actually would have preferred to kill the Russian president with his own hands, he told Al Jazeera in a cafe at a remote gas station on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital.

In October, Johnny joined others Russians are fighting for Ukraine and against their homeland as part of the Siberian Battalion, a unit formed last summer by the Citizens’ Council, a Russian opposition group based in Poland.

“We want to democratize Russia. And that will not be possible in the current situation. Russia must break up into smaller parts. I don’t care if it becomes as small as Belgium. … Places like Yakutia and Chechnya and other regions should be able to secede if they wish,” Johnny said.

According to Denis Sokolov, 54, the group’s coordinator, 50 of the unit’s fighters are currently training or fighting in Ukraine. Another 40 are being checked by Ukrainian security forces as they wait to cross the border.

He said there were thousands of other Russians ready to join the fight against Moscow and boasted that the Citizens’ Council received up to 10 applications a day.

Anyone who wants to register must first travel to a third country for security reasons. And from then on, processing an application takes months.

“Ukrainians don’t trust the Russians, and there are reasons for that. But this war was unleashed by the regime in our name, and we are obliged to end it,” Sokolov said.

At the time of publication, neither Polish nor Ukrainian authorities had responded to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on the Civil Council and the Siberian Battalion.

Since the start of the war, hundreds of Russians have turned against their country and reinforced Ukraine’s armed forces.

According to the International Crisis Group, their motivations are varied.

“Most recruits from the Russian Federation come from the North Caucasus – Muslim-majority regions that have long advocated for separation from the central government,” the group said in October.

“However, there are also ethnic Russians fighting for Ukraine. Some simply sympathize with the Ukrainian cause or see joining it as part of their own fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Others, however, are far-right activists who hope that the war will end not only with the collapse of Putin’s government, but also with the creation of a new, ethnically homogeneous Russian state.”

The far-right fighters are the “most combat-ready of the Russian units,” the think tank said.

Russian troops are officially part of Ukraine’s International Legion, fighting with permission from the Ministry of Defense and using Ukraine’s weapons.

Under Russian law, the definition of treason was expanded in April to include fighting for enemies, a crime punishable by life in prison.

In contrast, the Kremlin has reportedly offered citizenship to foreigners who choose to fight alongside Russian forces.

Johnny, a nickname he adopted after joining the unit, waited seven months to enter Ukraine.

He contacted the Citizens’ Council in March when the group was helping recruit fighters for the Russian Volunteer Corps, a far-right unit behind incursions into Russia march And May.

The two groups have now parted ways.

The Citizens’ Council decided to form a new, more inclusive entity that would accommodate non-white and non-Christian Russian citizens.

The Siberian Battalion consists of a number of people and groups, including anarchists, Muslims and members of the Free Ingria movement, fighting for the liberation of the St. Petersburg region.

“People are different. We are different ages. Our values ​​are different. But we all want to defeat Russia. And we believe that this is only possible through armed means,” said Johnny, who does not tell his family about his struggles or his whereabouts has.

The Siberian Battalion was named after the vast Russian region rich in natural resources, stretching from the Urals in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east.

“We understand that all of Moscow’s wealth comes from Siberia and that Moscow – and the rest of Russia – lives on Siberian money,” Sokolov said.

“It is important to deprive the regime of these resources because, firstly, the empire will be less aggressive without them. Secondly, the peoples of Siberia have the right to independently manage their resources, not only the indigenous peoples, but everyone living in Siberia.”

The Siberian Battalion also takes in people from other regions, like 26-year-old Sizy, the unit’s Moscow-born medic.

The former customs officer, who also ran his own business, arrived in Ukraine on the same day as Johnny and heard from the Citizens’ Council as the organization was recruiting for the Russian Volunteer Corps.

But Siziy, a nom de guerre in Russian that means “grey-blue,” is not associated with far-right nationalism.

In April 2022 he converted to Islam.

His parents found out about his decision when he was already in Ukraine. He cut off contact with everyone he knew in Russia.

Although it was not easy to accept that her only child went to war, Siziy said, his mother did not protest his decision.

“Everyone makes decisions for themselves. I realized that there is something more important in this life than material wealth,” Siziy said. “If there is one thing to die for, it is freedom. And Ukraine is fighting for its existence.”