War in Ukraine: three questions on the return of Azov regiment commanders, prisoners in Turkey

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These commanders, who belonged to the Azov regiment and were captured by Russian troops, were to remain in Turkey until the end of the conflict.

The return of the “heroes”. Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned from his visit to Turkey on Saturday, July 8, with Azov commander Denys Prokopenko, his deputy Svyatoslav Palamar, commander of the 36th Naval Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Serhi Volynsky, as well as Denys Chlega and Oleg Khomenko. These five men belonged to the Azov regiment, formed on the basis of the ultra-nationalist battalion of the same name. They had been captured by Russian forces after the fall of Mariupol in May 2022.

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Franceinfo comes back to this repatriation, which Moscow doesn’t like since the five men were expected to stay in Turkey until the end of the conflict.

1Who are these men?

Denys Prokopenko, Svyatoslav Palamar, Serhi Volynsky, Denys Chlega and Oleg Khomenko were part of the underground Ukrainian resistance at the Azovstal Steel Works in Mariupol, which Volodymyr Zelenskyy called “heroic”. Besieged by the Russians in this factory for more than 40 days, they surrendered in mid-May 2022. “In the last 24 hours, 771 fighters of the nationalist Azov regiment took prisoner,” Moscow claimed in particular on May 19.

They were part of the major exchange of military prisoners between Russia and Ukraine that took place on September 21, 2022. Kiev had recovered 215 prisoners, including the 188 “heroes” who had defended the steelworks, and including 108 members of the Azov Army Regiment.

Those five military commanders were then transferred to Turkey, where they would remain “in absolute safety and comfortable conditions” until the “end of the war,” the Ukrainian president assured, under an agreement with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. So the five men did not have to wait for the end of this war.

2Under what conditions were they released?

This repatriation of the five soldiers comes after Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s first trip to Turkey since the conflict began and a few days before the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, to be held on July 11-12. Recep Tayyip Erdogan also used his visit to recall that, in his opinion, Ukraine “deserves” to join the Atlantic Alliance.

However, we do not know the details that led to this return, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not made any statement on the terms of this release. All we know is that this repatriation comes after “negotiations with the Turkish side”. On the Turkish side, the country’s communications directorate did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the Guardian reports.

Back in Ukraine, Denys Prokopenko, commander of the Azov regiment, commented on the news from the front only: “The most important thing for today is that the Ukrainian army has taken the strategic initiative at the front and is advancing every day,” he swept. His deputy Sviatoslav Palamar added that his team will keep working on it.[son] Work”. “We are soldiers. We took an oath,” he stressed, according to CNN comments.

3How did Russia react?

The Kremlin criticized this repatriation on Saturday. These five men are particularly targeted in Russia for their links to Ukrainian ultra-nationalist circles. “The return of the Azov commanders from Turkey to Ukraine is nothing but a direct violation of the terms of existing agreements,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The terms of the agreement actually stipulated that these men should remain in Turkey until the end of the conflict.

According to Dmitry Peskov, this return is related to the “failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive launched in early June” and Ankara’s desire to show its “solidarity” ahead of the NATO summit in Vilnius. “Preparations for the NATO summit are underway and of course a lot of pressure has been put on Turkey,” he said.