Ukrainian filmmaker and activist Oleh Sentsov has been named commander of a battalion in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Sentsov now leads a battalion in the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade “Magura”, The Caspian Post reports via Ukrainian media.

“When Russia recognizes this war as a mistake, when Russia is ready to give up our territory, to say that we were wrong, sorry, we will repent all our lives. This will be a victory for me. I believe that this day will come," Sentsov said at the YES conference in Kyiv.

He joined the Ukrainian military in March 2022, after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, and steadily rose through the ranks-from platoon commander to assault company commander, and now to battalion commander.

Sentsov has fought in several major battles, including near Avdiivka, and has sustained multiple combat injuries. In 2023, he disclosed that he had been hospitalized with a concussion before returning to the front lines.

Before his military service, Sentsov was one of Russia’s most high-profile political prisoners. He was arrested in Crimea in 2014 on the occupied peninsula and sentenced to 20 years in prison on “terrorism” charges widely regarded as politically motivated. He was released in 2019 as part of a prisoner swap.