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Azovstal

The international battalion of the 12th Azov Brigade receives a battle banner in a photo published on May 1, 2025.

Why Azov Brigade created an International Battalion

by Yurii Chekh

Ukrainian history is rich with examples of foreign volunteers participating in wars fought by Ukrainians for their freedom. Latvian Karlis Broze, a lieutenant colonel in the Ukrainian People’s Republic, commanded the Black Zaporozhians company and later led one of the battalions during the Winter Campaign of 1919–1920. German

Azovstal defenders: ‘Surrender is not an option’

Azovstal defenders: ‘Surrender is not an option’

by Alexander Query

While the outside world was commemorating the end of World War II, Ilya Samoilenko, a 27-year-old officer of the Azov regiment, was speaking online to the press from the basement of Azovstal. “We feel abandoned,” said Samoilenko from the last Ukrainian stronghold of Mariupol, a city with a pre-war population

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5:27 PM

Inside Ukraine’s 1,000 for 1,000 POW swap with Russia.

On May 23, Ukraine and Russia began the largest prisoner exchange since 2014. Over three days, 1,000 prisoners of war (POWs) from both sides will return home in a deal agreed upon during direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul earlier this month — the first such talks between Moscow and Kyiv since 2022. The Kyiv Independent went to the site of exchange.
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