Russian President Vladimir Putin looks poised to take full control of Ukraine's southeastern port city of Mariupol after the apparent surrender of the last Ukrainian forces holed up at a vast steel works.
At the core of that last stand has been the Azov Regiment whose fighters are lionised as heroes in Ukraine, but reviled by Putin's Kremlin as a band of Russia-hating neo-Nazis.The Azov Regiment began as one of many militias of volunteer fighters who banded together to fight pro-Russian separatists backed by Moscow who carved out two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine in 2014 after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula.
Patriot of Ukraine later renamed itself the National Corps and, despite allying with other nationalist parties, failed to win election in 2019. The U.S. State Department labelled the National Corps a "nationalist hate group" in 2018. "They are the official army of our state. Anyone who wanted to be involved in politics - they left and are now in politics. Those who decided to serve in the Armed Forces became part of the Armed Forces," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview with Greek channel ERT on May 1.
It denies allegations of fascism, Nazism and racism and says that Ukrainians from various backgrounds including Greeks, Jews, Crimean Tatars, and Russians serve in Azov. The port city is vital for Russia to secure full control of the Sea of Azov coast as well as a land bridge linking pro-Russian territory with Crimea.
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