Jun 17, 2024
By Ellie Cook
Security & Defense Reporter
Ukraine’s Azov Brigade will “prove the effectiveness” of the U.S.’ decision to lift a long-standing ban on providing weapons to the unit, according to the brigade’s commander.
“We will justify the responsibility entrusted to us, and with our discipline, resilience and bravery in battle, we will prove the effectiveness of this decision,” Colonel Denys Prokopenko said in a statement posted to social media on Saturday.
Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department reversed a decision made back in 2014 to stop the Ukrainian brigade receiving American weapons.
The move comes as Ukraine, despite a number of successes in the Black Sea against Moscow’s naval fleet, struggles to hold off incremental but steady Russian advances in eastern Ukraine.
As military aid from Washington dried up earlier this year, deep anxieties settled in over the supply of weapons and ammunition to the Ukrainian front lines. The U.S. then passed a long-awaited military aid package in late April.
The Azov Brigade rose out of the volunteer Azov Battalion, with its roots in far-right and ultranationalist ideology. The fighters were on the front lines fighting pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine from 2014; the battalion’s founders were accused of having neo-Nazi sentiments.
The brigade’s current members have rejected these ties, distancing themselves from the battalion’s reputation since the outbreak of full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022. The brigade is now a part of Ukraine’s National Guard, and has been lauded as one of the most effective fighting forces, noted particularly for its role in battling Russian forces in the Moscow-controlled southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
The Kremlin has repeatedly attempted to justify its invasion by claiming a “neo-Nazi regime” is in charge in Kyiv. This has been emphatically rejected by Ukraine and the international community.
“Such a sudden change in Washington’s positions shows that they stop at nothing in their attempts to suppress Russia, using Ukraine and the Ukrainian people as a tool in their hands,” Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said in remarks referring to the State Department’s decision, as reported by Russian state media earlier this week. The U.S. is “ready even to flirt with neo-Nazis,” he added.
“I would like to congratulate all the soldiers of the 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov and the entire civilized world on the victory over Russian propaganda,” Prokopenko said on Saturday.
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An unnamed State Department spokespersontold the BBC that “Russian disinformation” had tried to “conflate” the current Azov Brigade with “a militia formed to defend Ukraine against Russia’s invasion in 2014,” or the Azov Battalion.
Under the U.S.’ “Leahy Law,” the Washington government cannot use funds to help foreign security forces when there is “credible information” suggesting the unit has committed gross violations of human rights.
“Eligibility for U.S. assistance will not only increase Azov’s combat effectiveness, but, most importantly, will help save the lives and health of the brigade’s personnel,” the brigade said in a statement on Tuesday.
“This is a new page in the history of our unit,” the unit added. “Azov is becoming more professional and more effective in defending Ukraine against the invaders.”
The Azov Brigade has not yet received U.S. weapons, Azov’s deputy commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sviatoslav Palamar, told The Washington Post on Tuesday.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine war, the U.S. military, weapons systems and emerging technology. She joined Newsweek in January 2023, having previously worked as a reporter at the Daily Express, and is a graduate of International Journalism at City, University of London.Languages: English, Spanish.You can reach Ellie via email at e.cook@newsweek.com.
“Such a sudden change in Washington’s positions shows that they stop at nothing in their attempts to suppress Russia, using Ukraine and the Ukrainian people as a tool in their hands,” Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said in remarks referring to the State Department’s decision, as reported by Russian state media earlier this week. The U.S. is “ready even to flirt with neo-Nazis,” he added.”
Tired old kremlin lies. But they still gain traction. Thanks to the enormous help provided in the US by Gateway Pundit, Steve Bannon, Breitbart, Alex Jones and many others.
Gateway Pundit’s “queers for putler” boss Jim Hoft, even directly quotes and credits RaT in his reports. You can’t get any more blatant than that.
The creep is a friend of Trumpkov, who praised him to high heaven in a fawning interview.
The time is long overdue to Trump-proof US aid. In his latest foul outburst, Trumpkov said :
“I think Zelenskyy is maybe the greatest salesman of any politician that’s ever lived,” Trump said. Raising his voice and volume, the presumptive GOP nominee quickly added, “Every time he comes to our country, he walks away with $60 billion.”
Trump interrupted himself to say that he “likes” Zelenskyy before he returned to his critique of the Ukrainian leader. “He just left four days ago with $60 billion, and he gets home, and he announces that he needs another $60 billion. It never ends. It never ends.”
A vote for Trumpkov is a vote for genocide.
In a few weeks, Trumpkov’s UK sidekick; Farage, is expected to make gains for his pro-putler party: Reform UK. Which will let Labour in; unfortunately.
It’s a very bad sign for our country when blatant lies are swallowed so willingly by so many, and that a new fascist rat-catcher is bagging so many rodents’ votes in his effort to get into the White House. Has Europe even had the foresight to see in what sort of deplorable situation they could be in if the worst case scenario should happen? For sure, some still seem to be sleeping at the wheel.
BTW, this article appeared on here 2 days ago.
Oops!
“A vote for Trumpkov is a vote for genocide.”
Ditto that for Biden. Problem for you TDS patients is we know what Biden will do…but we don’t know what Trump will do, besides all your machinations.
We know exactly what Trumpkov will do, because he has told us many times. He’s been discussing partition for at least ten years.
His latest sneering “salesman” slur against Zel is a clear signal of intent to help the rodent.