The National Guard of Ukraine reported that the Azov Brigade, which defended the Azovstal plant in Mariupol last year, has returned to the front and is fighting near Kreminna.
– The legendary special-purpose Azov brigade has been restored and started combat missions near the Serebryansky reserve near Kreminna in the Luhansk region – the representative of the Ukrainian National Guard, Colonel Mykola Urshalovich, said on Thursday.
He added that Azov’s troops “reliably hold their lines and inflict crushing losses on men and equipment on the enemy.”
In the spring of 2022, Azov’s troops held the defense at the Azovstal factory in Mariupol for almost two months. In mid-May, by order of the command, the defenders of Azovstal left the factory premises and were captured.
Azov soldiers returned to Ukraine
In September, the men in command of the defense of Azovstal, including Azov’s commander Denys Prokopenko, were sent to Turkey as part of a prisoner-of-war exchange between Russia and Ukraine and were to remain there until the end of the war.
However, in July 2023, members of Azov returned to Ukraine along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who visited Ankara. In response, Russia accused Turkey and Ukraine of violating the agreements.
Prokopenko met his troops in mid-July. Azov’s press service then reported that the commander intended to return to combat after rehabilitation.
The Azov Brigade, as well as the Azov movement as a whole, has generated numerous controversies and has been described by the media as far-right or neo-Nazi.
Mariupol under Russian occupation
The fall of Mariupol and the steelworks of Azovstal severed the land connection between occupied Crimea and Russia. More than 20,000 people are said to have died in the city’s siege last year. citizens.
In the fall, Mariupol, along with Donetsk Oblast and three other oblasts (Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson), was illegally annexed and incorporated into the Russian Federation.
The fall of Azovstal
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Azovstal, an iron and steel factory, was the main element of Mariupol’s economy. The factory started production in the 1930s and was one of the most modern in the Soviet Union.
Before the invasion of Nazi Germany, there were 12,000 people in Azovstal. workers’ homes, schools, cinemas, a hospital and a maternity clinic, and two parks. The factory did not function in the years 1941-1943 due to warfare. Production resumed after the Soviet army recaptured the factory.
In May last year Russian occupation authorities in the Donetsk region announced their intention to destroy the Azovstal steel plant and turn Mariupol into a “spa town”.
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
