© ITAR-TASS/ะะ ะ/IVAN BOBERSKYY Soldier from the Donbass batallion
The Donbass battalion, a voluntary armed unit, was set up in April this year to carry out a security operation against the supporters of the DPR.
Earlier this year, Ukraine's parliament-appointed Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk awarded the Order of Bogdan Khemlnitsky III class to Semyonchenko who appeared at a briefing in Dnipropetrovsk, without wearing his balaclava for the first time, on Monday.
The order, however, did not prevent a failed operation in east Ukraine. "Moreover, it does not rid Semyonchenko of responsibility for his doings," DPR prosecutors said.
Comment: The NAF (Novorussian Armed Forces) recently came into possession of documents listing commanders and troops (and all their personal information, including attack coordinates, orders, and offensive actions) after they were left by a fleeing Ukrainian Army unit. As the video below shows, these documents will hopefully be used in future to prosecute even more war criminals than Semyonchenko.