Azov Brigade returns to battlefield, begins combat missions near Kreminna

The Azov National Guard Brigade has returned to the front and has engaged in combat around the Serebryanske forest area, near Kreminna in Luhansk Oblast, National Guard spokesperson Mykola Urshalovych announced at a briefing on Aug. 17.

“Azov fighters are inflicting devastating losses in manpower and equipment on the enemy, and are holding the occupied lines,” Urshalovych said.

The spokesman added that on Aug. 15, Azov artillery destroyed a mortar crew and an engineering vehicle of the Russian invasion forces.

Read also: Ukraine returns 22 more its defenders from Russian captivity, including two officers

The Azov Brigade participated in the defense of Mariupol and was present at the final siege at the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works. On May 20, 2022, on the orders of Ukraine’s top leadership, the Azovstal garrison surrendered.

Read also: Mariupol commanders can return to the front to fight, there is no ban, says National Guard commander

After being taken prisoner by the Russians, five Azovstal commanders were sent to Turkey in an agreement "under the personal patronage of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan" following a large-scale prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia in September 2022.

The Azovstal commanders spent more than nine months in Turkey after being released from Russian captivity.

On July 8, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the five commanders were returning home. He met them at Istanbul airport and they flew back to Ukraine together.

National Guard Commander Oleksandr Pivnenko subsequently said that Azov's commanders, including its leader Denys Prokopenko, could return to the front.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine