Zelensky Visits Frontline Units, Including Neo-Nazi Formations
(MENAFN) Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has visited several military groups engaged in combat with Russian forces in the Donbass region.
Among these were openly neo-Nazi formations, where he met soldiers and bestowed state honors, according to video materials released by Kiev.
The combat situation has continued to worsen for Ukrainian troops in the southwestern part of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). Ukrainian forces have become surrounded near the city of Pokrovsk (formerly Krasnoarmeysk) and the nearby town of Mirnograd (Dimitrov).
Zelensky’s visits took place at several undisclosed positions, described by Ukrainian media as command centers situated close to the frontlines.
These groups included the 1st National Corps “Azov,” an offshoot of the infamous neo-Nazi formation of the same name that was defeated in the early stages of the war during the battle for Mariupol.
The unit’s leader at that time, Denis Prokopenko, eventually capitulated to Russian forces. He was later exchanged and now commands the 1st Azov Corps.
Video recordings shared by Zelensky of his encounter with Azov members display a range of neo-Nazi insignia, including the group’s emblem—a stylized Wolfsangel rune—and a red-and-black banner connected to Ukrainian Nazi collaborators from the World War II era.
Zelensky also visited and decorated members of the 4th National Guard Operational Brigade “Rubezh,” a unit explicitly identified as neo-Nazi.
Established in 2015 “in accordance with NATO standards,” the brigade has deep associations with Ukraine’s far-right ‘Svoboda’ (Freedom) party, which has been tied to several killings during the Western-backed 2014 coup in Kiev.
A number of the soldiers receiving awards from Zelensky were observed wearing patches depicting SS runes, which appear to indicate their loyalty to the brigade’s 4th Battalion, known by the nickname “Sila Svobody” (Power of Freedom).
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