Ukraine's Azov Brigade, Decimated At Mariupol 16 Months Ago, Returns To Combat

Ukraine's Azov Brigade, famous for its die-hard defense of the three month Azovstal steel plant siege in Mariupol during the initial months of the Russian invasion, has been reconstituted and is now fighting in Ukraine's northeast around the Serebryanski forest where the Russians have attempted a half-hearted counter-counter-offensive. 

The siege's survivors were captured by the Russians with some later killed in an unexplained explosion at the prison where they were being kept and where many reportedly were tortured. With new recruits joining repatriated survivors, the brigade has publicly forsworn the right-wing ideology of some of its early founders and is back at the front.  

Martin Fornusek reports in the Kyiv Independent:

The Azov Brigade of Ukraine is again carrying out combat tasks, (now) in the area of the Serebrianskyi forest. The Azov fighters became a symbol of Ukraine's resistance through their tenacious defense of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol in the first three months of the war. Russian forces eventually took Mariupol by May 2022, capturing the remaining defenders. Kyiv exchanged 200 captured soldiers for pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvechuk last September. Five commanders of the Azovstal's defense were exchanged for 55 Russian prisoners and sent to Turkey. In early July, Ukraine secured the return of the commanders back home.

The Azov Brigade of Ukraine's National Guard is again carrying out military operations at the front, Colonel Mykola Urshalovych said during a briefing at the Military Media Center on Aug. 17.

"The Special Operations Brigade 'Azov' has recovered and begun carrying out combat tasks in the area of the Serebrianskyi forest," the National Guard officer said.

According to Urshalovych, the Azov Brigade soldiers are holding the captured lines and inflicting heavy losses on enemy manpower and equipment.

On Aug. 15, the brigade's artillery destroyed a Russian mortar and a vehicle near the Serebrianskyi forest in Luhansk Oblast, the officer specified.

The Azov fighters became a symbol of Ukraine's resistance through their tenacious defense of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol in the first three months of the war. Russian forces eventually took Mariupol by May 2022, capturing the remaining defenders.

Kyiv managed to exchange around 200 captured soldiers for pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvechuk last year's September. Separately, five top commanders of the Azovstal's defense were exchanged for 55 Russian prisoners and sent to Turkey.

In early July, Ukraine managed to secure the return of the commanders back home, namely Denys Prokopenko, Serhiy Volynskyi, Sviatoslav Palamar, Denys Shleha, and Oleh Khomenko, despite complaints by the Kremlin.