Mariupol commanders can return to the front to fight, there is no ban, says National Guard commander
Azov regiment commander Denys Prokopenko meets with his soldiers after being released from captivity (Photo:Azov Brigade/Telegram)
The senior officers of the former Mariupol garrison, including the commander Ukraine’s Azov Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Denys Prokopenko, are permitted to return to the front to fight Russian invasion forces.
This was confirmed by the commander of the
National Guard, Colonel Oleksandr Pivnenko, in an interview with NV’s sister
publication Ukrayinska Pravda. The Azov Regiment is a unit of Ukraine’s
National Guard.
"Denys … defended Mariupol … They are
preparing (for battle) and will perform tasks, like everyone else,"
Pivnenko said.
Pivnenko added that there was no ban on the
Azov commanders returning to the front, and that they could be back in battle
within a month.
"It depends on the situation at the
front. Maybe within a month. We'll see, let's see, time will tell," he
said.
The Mariupol garrison commanders were
captured by the Russians during their seizure of the port city of Mariupol in
May 2022. The five commanders were held captive by the Russians, and then held
in Turkey under a prisoner exchange deal brokered by Ankara. Later, they werereleased and travelled back to Ukraine with Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy after the Ukrainian head of state visited Turkey on July 8.
Russia then accused Ukraine and Turkey of
violating the terms of the prisoner exchange deal.
The five Mariupol garrison commanders who
returned were:
- the commander of the Azov Regiment,
Lieutenant Colonel Denis Prokopenko, with the call sign Redis;
- the deputy commander of Azov Regiment,
Captain Sviatoslav Palamar, with the call sign Kalyna;
- the acting commander of the 36th Marine Brigade,
Captain 3rd Rank Serhiy Volynskyi, with the call sign Volyn;
- senior soldier of the 72nd Separate Mechanized
Brigade named after the Black Zaporozhets, Oleh Khomenko;
- the commander of the 12th Brigade of the Ukrainian
National Guard, Colonel Denis Shlega.
The Mariupol garrison commanders were held
in Turkey "under the personal protection of President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan"
after a large-scale prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia took place in
September 2022. They spent more than nine months in the country after being
released from Russian captivity.
In total, on Sept. 22, 2022, Ukraine
returned 215 defenders from Russian captivity. The five commanders of the Mariupol
garrison were exchanged for 55 Russian soldiers, and in exchange for the rest,
Ukraine sent Viktor Medvedchuk, a People's Deputy and Putin's best man, who was
suspected of treason, to Russia.
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