News Feed

The Kyiv Independent’s contributor Ignatius Ivlev-Yorke spent a day with a mobile team from the State Emergency Service in Nikopol in the south of Ukraine as they responded to relentless drone, artillery, and mortar strikes from Russian forces just across the Dnipro River. Nikopol is located across from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Enerhodar.

Show More
News Feed

Azov commanders among POWs returned from Russian captivity

1 min read

Commanders of the Azovstal defense, including Denys Prokopenko, the head of the Azov regiment at then-besieged Azovstal steel plant, his deputy Svyatoslav Palamar and marine commander Serhiy Volynsky, were among the 215 people released from Russian captivity in a massive prisoner exchange on Sept. 21. The five top commanders were delivered to Ankara in Turkey, where they spoke via teleconference with President Volodymyr Zelensky. They were escorted by Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi and Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Defense Ministry Kyrylo Budanov.

In spring, Ukrainian soldiers from Azov and other regiments withstood a brutal Russian siege as they were holding Azovstal, a large steel plant and the last Ukrainian stronghold in now Russian-occupied Mariupol. During the siege, the three commanders became the faces of the resistance, and communicated with the outside world daily to seek help.

Azov regiment commander Denys Prokopenko, along with four other Azovstal defenders, speaks to President Volodymyr Zelensky via teleconference from Ankara, Turkey, after being released from Russian captivity in a prisoner exchange on Sept. 21. (Courtesy)

Other known Azovstal defenders were freed as well, including Dmytro Kozatsky, nicknamed Orest, who took widely shared photos from Azovstal.

Avatar
The Kyiv Independent news desk

We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.

Read more