Ukraine’s Azov fighters were forced from Mariupol. Now they’re hitting back

By Dan Peleschuk

KYIV, June 18 (Reuters) – Four years after Ukraine’s Azov Regiment surrendered the last corner of the devastated city of Mariupol to Russian forces, the rebuilt force has set its sights on making Moscow pay for its occupation.

This bitter defeat in May 2022, in which hundreds of fighters were killed or captured, turned Azov into a symbol of resilience in Ukraine and paved the way for its return as a larger and more powerful power. Now he is once again focusing on his hometown on the Sea of ​​Azov.

According to the Kiev military, drones belonging to the Azov First Corps streaked through the skies over the city’s strategic port last week in an operation targeting electrical substations, repair facilities and a sanctioned ship, knocking the port out of power.

Reuters was able to verify the location of parts of the attack video released by the corps.

The attack was part of a widening offensive campaign targeting Russian military logistics deep in Ukraine’s front lines, with the aim of collapsing Moscow’s war machine and tipping the war in Kiev’s favour.

Colonel Arsen Dmytryk, First Corps Azov’s chief of staff, told Reuters there would be dozens more such operations to showcase the unit’s capabilities, technology and planning.

He acknowledged that driving Russia out of Mariupol, 120 km (75 mi) behind barely advancing front lines, was “a long game”.

“If it takes 20 years, we will spend 20 years planning, waiting and preparing,” said 32-year-old Dmytryk, who was among those captured by Russia and later released. “But we have to be ready when the time comes. I believe we will bring it back (Mariupol).

“It’s just a matter of time.”

Russia’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

‘MORE COMING’

The port attack, carried out in conjunction with Ukraine’s drones and the SBU security service, took place just a few kilometers from the ruined steel mill where Azov fighters and other troops surrendered after Moscow’s three-month siege of the city.

This followed months of attacks on critical highways in Russian-occupied areas of the eastern Donetsk region, including Mariupol, in a systematic effort to disrupt Russian supply lines to the front.

Footage released by the corps shows its operations: In a video released on April 16, drones fly over large areas and long highways around Donetsk before boarding large army vehicles.

Another post on May 8 includes drone footage covering the center of Mariupol and the heavily damaged Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, where the Ukrainian garrison’s last stand of 2022 is located.

“Azov is already patrolling his home city ⁠Mariupol. From the skies for now,” he said.

A Reuters investigation earlier this year found that the city, whose population has fallen from pre-war numbers of 400,000, is now hosting new infrastructure projects as part of Russia’s effort to strengthen its grip on occupied southern Ukraine.

In January, Kiev’s foreign intelligence service said Russia was expanding the port of Mariupol as a major hub for its economy and was pursuing flashy construction projects in the city at the expense of ordinary residents.

Regional officials in Russian-occupied Donetsk did not immediately respond to questions for this story.

CUTTING CRITICAL MATERIALS

A corps drone officer said the Azov’s primary objective under Ukraine’s “medium strike” campaign was to smother enemy cargo – particularly fuel – arriving from Russia via key points such as Mariupol and the city of Donetsk.

The constant movement of supply trucks across wide, open roads makes them difficult to defend, he said: “There is no way to hide a tanker carrying fuel… It is simply impossible.”

He added that the routes under attack include the M14 connecting Mariupol to the Russian city of Rostov in the east, the H20 from Mariupol north to Donetsk, and the ring road around Donetsk.

The Ukrainian military is also increasing its logistics offensive on the Russian-occupied “land bridge” over southern Ukraine connecting Russia to Crimea; These attacks led to a fuel shortage on the peninsula.

Speaking to Reuters last week, Ukraine’s chief drone commander Robert Brovdi vowed to “isolate Crimea in the near future” by carrying out attacks on the key P-280 highway.

Franz-Stefan Gady, a Vienna-based expert at the Center for a New American Security, said Azov’s attacks were “cumulative rather than definitive” as they forced Russia’s military to disperse its vehicles over longer routes and resort to more night driving.

Over time, he added, this “destroyed the offensive tempo that Russia could establish” on the battlefield.

Russian forces are on the verge of capturing the city of Kostiantynivka, the southern foothold of the so-called “fortress belt” in the Donetsk region that Moscow has demanded Kiev give up. Russian drone teams also influence Ukrainian battlefield logistics.

But Russia’s overall pace of progress has slowed in recent months. Ukrainian forces regained territory on parts of the front.

Kiev’s medium-range strikes could “test the conditions” for Ukraine and possibly Azov to eventually go on the offensive, said Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute.

“This is one of the biggest stories of this year: How Russia is handling Ukraine’s mid-strike campaign.” he said.

FUTURE OPERATIONS

One of Azov’s primary weapons is the AI-powered Hornet drone produced by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s US defense technology firm Perennial Autonomy.

Lee added that Corps operators modified it by installing Starlink internet terminals to extend its original range to 100 km; This is an innovation that demonstrates the technical know-how of the unit.

“Azov was responsible for many improvements to the Hornet,” he said.

Chief of Staff Dmytryk said the unit was working toward an important goal by raining down drones on the roads leading to and from Mariupol: hastening the end of hostilities, which it hopes will lead to the release of more than 700 of its fighters from Russian prisons.

Kiev has made prisoner exchanges for all a central part of any peace deal. “Free Azov” rallies are frequently held in Kiev and other major cities, reflecting the unit’s heroic status in Ukrainian society.

Corps commander Denys Prokopenko told X last month that the release of his comrades was “my personal priority and a matter of honour.”

Today’s Azov, maligned in Russia for its roots as a nationalist militia, is a far cry from the puny volunteer battalion that liberated Mariupol from pro-Russian separatists in 2014 or the splintered ‌regiment of 2022.

Officially affiliated with the National Guard, the organization is now seen as a leading fighting force and one of Ukraine’s “most advanced formations,” particularly in drone warfare, said Olena Kryzhanivska, a defense analyst at the Canadian Institute of Global Affairs.

The unit says it expanded last year to a corps that includes six brigades, a drone regiment and a special purpose unit, now totaling tens of thousands of soldiers.

“While we were in captivity, the Muscovites told us that they wanted to destroy us, destroy us, destroy us,” said Dmytryk, whose call sign is “Lemko.” “But somehow their ‘destruction’ continues to enlarge Azov.”

(Editing by Daniel Flynn, Mike Collett-White and Ros Russell)