‘Nonsense’: heroes of Mariupol denied US weapons over neo-Nazi past

Azov has been banned from receiving US arms since 2017 owing to decade-old accusations of neo-Nazi links.

The block on US assistance has caused anger among the leadership and soldiery of a unit that is regarded in Ukraine as a heroic, elite force.

Furthermore, the volunteer brigade now incorporates fighters from an array of ethnic and religious groups, including Jewish soldiers.

“Raccoon”, right, a Jewish bookseller from Dnipro, said he had “never had any prejudice from any of my brother soldiers”

.

“How can Azov be a neo-Nazi unit when there are so many Jews in its ranks?” said “Raccoon”, a 36-year-old Jewish bookseller from Dnipro who is serving as a member of an Azov 152mm howitzer gun team east of Lyman. “I joined the unit for its professionalism and military ethos, and I’ve never had any prejudice from any of my brother soldiers.”

Although they have received a trickle of outdated artillery systems from European countries, officers in the brigade feel aggrieved that the US ban has prevented one of Ukraine’s most experienced units from training with Nato forces in Europe.

“We don’t care about the lack of US money or funding — we care much more about being prevented from any ability to train with Nato units outside Ukraine,” said Illia Samoilenko, a staff officer with the brigade who was authorised to speak about the ban by his commander, Colonel Denys Prokopenko, who led the defence of Azovstal.

“We are one of few units in Ukraine whose soldiers, NCOs and officers are of Nato standard,” Samoilenko added, “yet as a result of the prohibition, we are starved of US weapons and excluded from having any presence in exercises or training packages with American or Nato armies in Europe.”

• Analysis: Will the US aid package be enough for Ukraine to win the war?

Prokopenko, 32, who was awarded a Hero of Ukraine medal for his actions at Mariupol, described the US ban as “nonsense” in a post on Twitter/X before the vote in Congress. “Such amendments and prohibitions not only prevent Azov from performing its combat missions more effectively but are a blow to the defence capability of our country,” Prokopenko wrote.

The ban on US aid to Azov is a legacy of the unit’s chequered history, amplified through recent Russian propaganda.

The unit was formed as the Azov Battalion in 2014 by a variety of nationalistic and right-wing groups, including the right-wing coalition Right Sector and the ultranationalist Patriot of Ukraine organisation, whose leader, Andriy Biletsky, was the battalion’s founder and first commander.

Andriy Biletsky, the battalion’s founder, remains a controversial figure in Ukraine

PAVLO GONCHAR/GETTY IMAGES

At the time, Biletsky — who remains a controversial figure in Ukraine — was an unashamed right-wing extremist and racist, whose writings include the 2013 brochure The Word of the White Leader.

In September 2014 the battalion was restructured as a regiment and incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard. Biletsky left the unit a month later and his influence faded.

Nor did he manage to turn his ideology into political success. In Ukraine’s 2019 parliamentary elections Biletsky’s political party, the National Corps, failed to gain a single seat.

By the time the battle for Mariupol began, the Azov Regiment had been transformed from its original ethos. Under the command of Prokopenko, it remodelled itself as a multicultural military elite rather than the armed force of a right-wing ideologue.

The battalion has received a trickle of outdated artillery systems from European countries

“I joined to be a loyal warrior to Ukraine, inspired by the deeds of Azov in Mariupol,” said another Azov artilleryman, a 26-year-old sergeant codenamed “Bulba” serving with the same artillery unit as Raccoon.

“There are people here from both the right and left sides of the political spectrum, just as there are in the US army. Neither race nor religion nor political ideology is very relevant between our soldiers fighting in this war,” he said.

Samoilenko, who was already missing an arm and eye by the time he was taken prisoner with Prokopenko at the surrender of Mariupol, described neo-Nazis as idiots.

“Some of the original shady elements and weirdos in Azov’s foundation days might have thought that Ukrainian independence could be manifested through neo-Nazism, which was idiotic,” he said. “They were the ones who caused us the original trouble and yet they have nothing to do with the unit now.”

Azov Brigade troops loading a howitzer gun

Almost annihilated at Mariupol, the Azov Regiment was re-formed again last year, this time becoming the 12th Azov Special Forces Brigade. Prokopenko, who holds legendary status among his men, was released from a Russian prison in September 2022, at first into exile in Turkey. On returning to Ukraine last July he reassumed command of the unit.

More than 900 of his men captured at Mariupol remain in jail in Russia, where the Azov Regiment is declared a terrorist organisation.

Ironically, although the brigade continues to suffer from its association with Biletsky, its founder faces no such sanction.

He now commands the 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian army, one of the most popular and best-equipped military formations in the country, whose core includes many former Azov fighters.

By dropping the word “Azov” from the brigade’s title, the unit appears to have dodged the US ban on military assistance.

Even so, Azov soldiers remain reluctant to criticise Biletsky or his unit — a discretion born more out of a sense of shared camaraderie with many of the 3rd Brigade than from any affection for its commander.

“Soldier to soldier and officer to officer, we have good relations with the 3rd Brigade,” Samoilenko said.

“We don’t like to criticise them, any more than we’d want to shit in our own bortsch.”