Ukraine’s National Guard: Azov Brigade replenished and active, ‘meeting goals’ in Luhansk region

Azov Brigade, the Ukrainian formation that defended Mariupol in the spring of 2022, has been replenished and returned to the front, said the Ukrainian National Guard’s Colonel Mykola Urshalovich in a press briefing.

According to the senior officer, the restored unit is now “meeting combat goals” near the Serebryanskyy forest reserve in the Luhansk region of Ukraine.

Together with other Ukrainian troops, Azov fighters defended the Azovstal steelworks at the heart of Mariupol for nearly two months, before they had to leave the plant and were captured by the Russian army in May 2022.

Last September, Azov commander Denys Prokopenko and other officers who took part in the defense of Azovstal were sent to Turkey, following a prisoner exchange agreement. The expectation was that they’d remain there until peace had been reached, but in July 2023, after Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Turkey, they returned to Ukraine, together with the president.

Russia subsequently accused both Turkey and Ukraine of violating the rules of prisoner exchange.

In mid-July 2023, Prokopenko met with the troops. Azov Brigade then announced he would resume command of the formation as soon as he finished a course of physical therapy.