Azov regiment commander 'Redis' relays message from Turkey

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Denis Prokopenko, commander of the Azov regiment, reports from Turkey
Ukrinform
12:30, 10.12.2022

"Redis asked to make it public at an important opportunity.



Denys Prokopenko "Redis", commander of the Azov regiment, called for doing everything possible as well as impossible to free Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russian captivity. His message was read out by Prokopenko's wife Kateryna at the Ukrainian Pravda award ceremony, receiving an award for civic position on behalf of the Azovstal Defenders Family Association

In his letter, the Azov commander recalls how difficult it was to be a prisoner of war due to the lack of information, physical and psychological terror, and describes how difficult the prisoner exchange itself is

He said, however, that he could still be useful to Ukraine and hopes to play a role in the war against the Russian invaders. In particular, he said:

It is a great despair for us that we cannot be with our fellow soldiers on the front line right now, and we hope that for us the war is not over and we will be useful to our state

Denys Prokopenko, the legendary Azov commander, was returned from captivity in September. Under the agreement between the parties involved in his release, he is to remain in Turkey until the end of the war

The battle for Mariupol, in which Prokopenko became one of the resistance leaders at Azovstal, became a symbol of indestructibility for Ukrainians. Thanks to Azov, it was possible to draw back a large grouping of enemy forces in the south, thus slowing the onslaught in other directions and preventing the enemy from fully developing success in other parts of the front.

On a national scale, this made it possible to regroup troops, obtain the latest weaponry from Western partners, mobilise fresh personnel, take strategic initiatives along the entire line of contact and conduct a series of successful counter-offensive operations.

Denis Prokopenko, call sign Redis, born 27 June 1991, graduated from the Department of Germanic Philology at the Kyiv National Linguistic University as an English language teacher.

Prokopenko first went to the front back in 2014, where he took part in the anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine as part of the then volunteer battalion. There he gradually became a platoon and company commander and later the battalion itself.

In 2015, Prokopenko had the rank of junior lieutenant and a few years later became a senior lieutenant. In 2019, he was promoted to captain and in 2022 to major and lieutenant colonel.

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