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All that is to say, the 3rd Assault Brigade is a third-generation descendent of the far-right Azov Battalion. The army back in December peeled off the regiment’s special operations battalion and formed the 3rd Assault Brigade around it. One of these groups, the Azov Battalion, ultimately evolved into the Azov Regiment, which operates under the banner of the Ukrainian national guard. But it’s true that far-right volunteer groups have fought on the Ukrainian side since Russia first attacked Ukraine in 2014. To be very clear, Nazis neither govern Ukraine nor dominate its armed forces. Inasmuch as the regime of Russian president Vladimir Putin describes its war on Ukraine as an effort to “denazify” the country, the Azov prisoners are “proof” that Russia is “winning.” In Russian propaganda, all Ukrainian troops are Nazis-but Azov fighters especially are Nazis. The Kremlin at times has been reluctant to free Azov veterans, however. Every Russian the 3rd Assault Brigade captures could be the ticket home for a member of the brigade’s founding unit. It seems several hundred remain in Russian prisons, however.

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In a series of prisoner-exchanges over the following year, Ukrainian officials freed some of the Mariupol veterans. When the Russians finally captured Mariupol in May 2022, they also captured thousands of Ukrainian troops, including many Azov members.

The Azov Regiment and allied forces held out for three months as the Russians effectively demolished the city, killing tens of thousands. Russian troops surrounded Mariupol shortly after Russia widened its war on Ukraine in February 2022. The brigade formed around the survivors of the Azov Regiment, which fought in the brutal siege of Mariupol, Ukraine’s port on the Sea of Azov.

Not necessarily out of mercy, but because Russian prisoners are a kind of currency with which Kyiv can buy the freedom of Ukrainian prisoners being held in Russia.įor the 3rd Assault Brigade, potential prisoner-exchanges could be deeply personal. The Ukrainians can be heard giving Russian hold-outs a chance to surrender before grenading them.

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