Valery Stepanovich Sakhashchyk is a former commander of the Belarusian 38th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade. Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sakhashchyk launched video appeals calling for Belarusian forces to refuse to participate in any attack against Ukraine. On 9 August 2022, he was nominated as the effective defence minister of the Belarusian United Transitional Cabinet, a government-in-exile opposed to the de facto government of Alexander Lukashenko.

The 38th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade is a Special forces brigade of the Armed Forces of Belarus. It is currently based in Brest. The brigade was originally formed from the elements of the disbanded 105th Guards Vienna Airborne Division in 1979 as the 38th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade. In 1990, it was transferred to the Soviet airborne and renamed the 38th Separate Guards Airborne Brigade. In January 1992, it was taken over by Belarus and was later renamed the 38th Guards Mobile Brigade. The brigade was renamed the 38th Guards Air Assault Brigade in 2016.