Karina Bovsunovskaya17:32, 05/20/24

Two years have passed since the Ukrainian military was ordered to stop defending Mariupol.

The commander of the Azov National Guard brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Denis Prokopenko (“Redis”) , said that 900 Azov military personnel are still in Russian captivity. He wrote about this on his Facebook page , recalling that two years ago, Ukrainian defenders received an order from the country’s highest military-political leadership to stop the defense of Mariupol and leave the territory of Azovstal as captives.

“2 years have passed. 2 years of resistance of more than 900 servicemen of the 12th Special Forces Brigade “Azov”, who saved Ukraine with their desperate actions, and are now in Russian captivity. Their names are not forgotten. Today, our every battle, every shot and every step has one goal – to return the captives of Azov home. And until this happens, we will not stop and will not stop the fight. We will return everyone and free everyone,” Prokopenko assured.

He recalled that as a result of difficult negotiations with the Russian Federation, agreements were reached on the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant. Hundreds of people who took refuge on the territory of the plant were rescued.

“All the civilians who were hiding from enemy bombing at Azovstal remained alive. The last civilian left the plant on May 7, 2022. After that, the Mariupol garrison continued to hold the defense until the appropriate order from the high command,” the Azov commander emphasized. .

According to him, the defense of Mariupol saved Ukraine, but at the cost of this were the lives of the brigade soldiers who died during urban battles and as a result of the terrorist attack in Yelenovka, as well as hundreds of military personnel who have been in captivity for two years.

In addition, Denis Prokopenko published a photograph that was taken during negotiations on neutral territory between the Kommunalnik enterprise and the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol in May 2022.

(C)UNIAN 2024