In 1937, Bunyachenko was expelled from the Communist Party for criticizing agricultural collectivization policies conducted by the Soviet Union, especially in Ukraine.

In May, he applied to join the Russian Liberation Army, a collaborationist anti-Communist force led by General Andrey Vlasov.

By September 1943, he had been approved to serve as a communications officer in the headquarters of the German 7th Army in Le Mans, in the Sarthe department.

In June and July 1944, he led a combined regiment of two Eastern battalions in a defense against Operation Overlord in an unknown portion of the French coast.

In Mid-April he participated in Operation: April Weather, an effort to defend the Oder River, which today marks the German-Polish border, from the encroaching Red Army.

One source alleges that Vlasov and Bunyachenko together intended to muster the ROA in Slovenia and strike against Josip Tito's partisans.

This source states that the ROA intended to retake Slovenia and portions of Croatia and Northern Bosnia and establish a "White Yugoslavia" which would be friendly to the Allies and particularly America in the war's aftermath.

It is, however, a matter of historical record [citation needed]that the ROA and Bunyachenko defected from the Nazis and attempted to align themselves to the Western Allies as the fall of the Third Reich approached.

As Bunyachenko's division marched from the front lines, the commanders signed an agreement with the partisans who led the Prague Uprising on 4 May 1945.

All twelve individuals in the trial were charged with terrorism, wrecking, anti-Soviet agitation, criminal conspiracy, and High Treason.

On 1 November 2001 the Military Collegium of the Russian Federation overturned the convictions of anti-Soviet agitation for all defendants, including Bunyachenko.