Azov commander returns to Ukraine from Turkey, meets with troops

Commander of the Azov Regiment Denys Prokopenko, who spent several months in a secure facility in Turkey after being captured by Russian troops, returned to Ukraine on July 8 and met with military personnel.

Azov’s press service quoted Prokopenko as saying:

In prison I said that, to me, this war won’t be over until we return every last fighter from prison and restore the 1991 borders of Ukraine. I’m a soldier. I’m not interested in any other course of action besides military ones. My heart, my soul, my body belong to Azov.

Prokopenko is expected to resume his official duties in the near future. He’s currently undergoing rehabilitation.

Prokopenko was in a secure facility in Turkey along with the other commanders of the Azovstal defense. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that that the terms of the September 2022 prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine stated that the group should not return to Ukraine until the end of the war. However, the Azov commanders returned in July 2023, with Zelensky after his visit to Turkey. Russia has said that Turkey and Ukraine violated the original agreement.