121-747: The 12th Special Operations Brigade "Azov" ( Ukrainian : 12-та бригада спеціального призначення «Азов» , romanized : 12-ta bryhada spetsialnoho pryznachennya "Azov" ) is a formation of the National Guard of Ukraine formerly based in Mariupol , in the coastal region of the Sea of Azov , from which it derives its name. It was founded in May 2014 as the Azov Battalion ( Ukrainian : батальйон «Азов» , romanized : Batalion "Azov" ),
242-666: A self-funded volunteer militia under the command of Andriy Biletsky , to fight Russian-backed forces in the Donbas War . It was formally incorporated into the National Guard on 11 November 2014, and redesignated Special Operations Detachment "Azov" , also known as the Azov Regiment . In February 2023, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that Azov was to be expanded as a brigade of
363-414: A weak yer vowel that would eventually disappear completely, for example Old East Slavic котъ /kɔtə/ > Ukrainian кіт /kit/ 'cat' (via transitional stages such as /koˑtə̆/, /kuˑt(ə̆)/, /kyˑt/ or similar) or Old East Slavic печь /pʲɛtʃʲə/ > Ukrainian піч /pitʃ/ 'oven' (via transitional stages such as /pʲeˑtʃʲə̆/, /pʲiˑtʃʲ/ or similar). This raising and other phonological developments of the time, such as
484-692: A "dangerous organization", meaning that Facebook , Instagram , and WhatsApp users may publish content about the Azov Regiment and its members without censorship. On 10 June 2024, the United States Department of State announced the lifting of a ban which previously prevented the Azov Brigade from using weapons supplied by the US, writing in a statement that "Ukraine's 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade passed Leahy vetting " and that
605-636: A body of national literature, institute a Ukrainian-language educational system, and form an independent state (the Ukrainian People's Republic , shortly joined by the West Ukrainian People's Republic ). During this brief independent statehood the stature and use of Ukrainian greatly improved. In the Russian Empire Census of 1897 the following picture emerged, with Ukrainian being the second most spoken language of
726-556: A bunker under the factory for two months before her evacuation told Deutsche Welle that, contrary to Russian media reports, they were not forced by soldiers in Azovstal to stay against their will, however, it became increasingly unsafe to leave due to constant bombardment. On 10 May 2022, the Azov Regiment posted images on its Telegram page of what it said were its wounded soldiers in the bunkers of Azovstal. These images showed severe shrapnel injuries and in some cases amputated limbs which
847-784: A detachment of troops from the Russian Armed Forces was spotted moving into Novoazovsk , 45 km east of Mariupol. Later, the separatist forces in Ilovaisk were reinforced by troops from the Russian Armed Forces, which encircled the Ukrainian forces in the city and defeated them. The commander of the Donbas Battalion, Semen Semenchenko , later accused the Ukrainian military and government of deliberately abandoning them for political reasons, citing
968-571: A few kilometers east of Mariupol. At the same time, Azov started to train Mariupol citizens in self-defense and organize popular militias to defend the city. The separatists were able to push far into Mariupol, reaching the outer suburbs and coming within five kilometers of the city. But an overnight counter-offensive on 4 September launched by Azov and the Armed Forces pushed the DPR forces away from
1089-589: A group of family members announced the creation of a "Council of Wives and Mothers" to help ensure the surrendered soldiers are treated according to the Geneva Conventions. They noted that most of the relatives have no idea what is going on with the captured fighters, and there is no evidence of activity by the Red Cross. On 5 June 2022, Kateryna Prokopenko told Ukrayinska Pravda that as far as she understands, international humanitarian groups such as
1210-506: A key casus belli . The regiment, on the other hand, was noted for its ability to self-promote, producing high quality videos of its drone strikes and other military activities; The Daily Telegraph called it a "well-oiled publicity machine". Others have noted how their participation in the war and defense of Mariupol have increased national and international notoriety and popularity of the unit. The regiment's destruction has been among Moscow's war objectives. In March, France 24 described
1331-751: A march to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in Kyiv organized by the Right Sector and on 31 October 2014, deputy commander of the Azov Battalion Vadym Troyan was appointed head of Kyiv Oblast police (this police force has no jurisdiction over the city of Kyiv). On 24 January 2015, Mariupol came under an indiscriminate rocket bombing by separatists , which left 31 dead and 108 injured. On 28 January, two Azov members were killed in
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#17327838874711452-425: A phone call by Emmanuel Macron , Olaf Scholz , and Vladimir Putin, when the western leaders called for a prisoner swap. On 7 June 2022, Human Rights Watch and Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group separately announced that Ukrainian refugees, as well as civilians forcibly deported to Russia, were being pressured and intimidated to implicate Ukrainian military personnel in war crimes, including implicating Azov in
1573-591: A policy of defending Ukraine's interests within the Soviet Union. He proudly promoted the beauty of the Ukrainian language and developed plans to expand the role of Ukrainian in higher education. He was removed, however, after only a brief tenure, for being too lenient on Ukrainian nationalism. The new party boss from 1972 to 1989, Volodymyr Shcherbytsky , purged the local party, was fierce in suppressing dissent, and insisted Russian be spoken at all official functions, even at local levels. His policy of Russification
1694-565: A result of close Slavic contacts with the remnants of the Scythian and Sarmatian population north of the Black Sea , lasting into the early Middle Ages , the appearance of the voiced fricative γ/г (romanized "h"), in modern Ukrainian and some southern Russian dialects is explained by the assumption that it initially emerged in Scythian and related eastern Iranian dialects, from earlier common Proto-Indo-European *g and *gʰ . During
1815-644: A self-aware Ukrainian nation would threaten the unity of the empire. In 1804 Ukrainian as a subject and language of instruction was banned from schools. In 1811, by order of the Russian government, the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was closed. In 1847 the Brotherhood of St Cyril and Methodius was terminated. The same year Taras Shevchenko was arrested, exiled for ten years, and banned for political reasons from writing and painting. In 1862 Pavlo Chubynsky
1936-484: A shelling of a checkpoint in the eastern part of Mariupol. Both attacks were conducted from an area near the village of Shyrokyne , 11 km east of Mariupol, where there was significant movement of separatist troops in the region, stoking fears of a third offensive against Mariupol. In February 2015, the Azov Regiment responded by spearheading a surprise offensive against the separatists in Shyrokyne . The objective
2057-692: A small militia to help local security forces against the local pro-Russian movement in the city. Biletsky's militia, and later the Battalion, was known as the " Black Corps " ( Ukrainian : Чорний Корпус , romanized : Chorny Korpus ), and nicknamed by Ukrainian media as the "Men in Black" or "Little Black Men", touted as Ukraine's version of Russia's Little Green Men due to their secrecy and mystery, as well their use of all-black fatigues and masks in Kharkiv and later in Mariupol . During March 2014, as
2178-890: A variant name of the Little Russian language . In a private letter from 1854, Taras Shevchenko lauds "our splendid Ukrainian language". Valuyev's decree from 1863 derides the "Little Russian" language throughout, but also mentions "the so-called Ukrainian language" once. In Galicia, the earliest applications of the term Ukrainian to the language were in the hyphenated names Ukrainian-Ruthenian (1866, by Paulin Święcicki ) or Ruthenian-Ukrainian (1871, by Panteleimon Kulish and Ivan Puluj ), with non-hyphenated Ukrainian language appearing shortly thereafter (in 1878, by Mykhailo Drahomanov ). A following ban on Ukrainian books led to Alexander II 's secret Ems Ukaz , which prohibited publication and importation of most Ukrainian-language books, public performances and lectures, and even banned
2299-699: Is a connection between extremist groups within Ukraine and the Russian intelligence services , which use the far-right groups as a propaganda tool. According to Wimmer, Russia contributed to the growth of these groups and exposed their extremes to indirectly support a Russian narrative. Extremism researcher Kacper Rękawek notes that Russian members of Misanthropic Division infiltrated the Social-National Assembly and later Azov, and later Azov had to take steps to get rid of MD's influence. Russians from
2420-646: Is based on the character of contemporary written sources, ultimately reflecting socio-historical developments, and he further subdivides the Middle period into three phases: Ukraine annually marks the Day of Ukrainian Writing and Language on 9 November, the Eastern Orthodox feast day of Nestor the Chronicler . The era of Kievan Rus' ( c. 880–1240) is the subject of some linguistic controversy, as
2541-471: Is more mutual intelligibility with Belarusian , and a closer lexical distance to West Slavic Polish and South Slavic Bulgarian . Ukrainian is a descendant of Old East Slavic , a language spoken in the medieval state of Kievan Rus' . In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , the language developed into Ruthenian , where it became an official language, before a process of Polonization began in
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#17327838874712662-856: Is one of the East Slavic languages in the Indo-European languages family, and it is spoken primarily in Ukraine . It is the first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians . Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet , a variant of the Cyrillic script . The standard language is studied by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Potebnia Institute of Linguistics . Comparisons are often made between Ukrainian and Russian , another East Slavic language, yet there
2783-548: The Euromaidan . Nationalism researcher Andreas Umland wrote that the Azov was created by "an obscure lunatic fringe group of racist activists" and has "a contradictory, if not paradoxical history of cooperation" between organizations involved in its creation – Social-National Assembly , Patriot of Ukraine , Misanthropic Division , Bratstvo , anti-Euromaidan and Russian neo-Nazi figures. Andreas Wimmer wrote that there
2904-608: The Kharkiv Oblast regional administration building in Kharkiv and served as a local "self-defense force". Soon after, a company of the Special Tasks Patrol Police called 'Eastern Corps' was formed on the basis of Sect 82, which would join Azov in 2015. In February 2014, Andriy Biletsky , a far-right political activist, founder and leader of the ultranationalist organization Patriot of Ukraine and
3025-723: The Latin language. Much of the influence of Poland on the development of the Ukrainian language has been attributed to this period and is reflected in multiple words and constructions used in everyday Ukrainian speech that were taken from Polish or Latin. Examples of Polish words adopted from this period include zavzhdy (always; taken from old Polish word zawżdy ) and obitsiaty (to promise; taken from Polish obiecać ) and from Latin (via Polish) raptom (suddenly) and meta (aim or goal). Significant contact with Tatars and Turks resulted in many Turkic words, particularly those involving military matters and steppe industry, being adopted into
3146-569: The Novgorod Republic did not call themselves Rus ' until the 14th century; earlier Novgorodians reserved the term Rus ' for the Kiev , Pereyaslavl and Chernigov principalities. At the same time as evidenced by contemporary chronicles, the ruling princes and kings of Galicia–Volhynia and Kiev called themselves "people of Rus ' " (in foreign sources called " Ruthenians "), and Galicia–Volhynia has alternately been called
3267-626: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . By the 18th century, Ruthenian diverged into regional variants, and the modern Ukrainian language developed in the territory of present-day Ukraine. Russification saw the Ukrainian language banned as a subject from schools and as a language of instruction in the Russian Empire , and continued in various ways in the Soviet Union . Even so, the language continued to see use throughout
3388-461: The Red Cross were only with the surrendered soldiers during the beginning of their captivity, but that it was not the case anymore. She suggested that the Russian side is restricting access to the soldiers by the Red Cross. In mid-June, the lack of monitoring continued, even though it was a provision of the surrender agreement. The Red Cross has been silent, but their fate has been brought up during
3509-486: The Russian annexation of Crimea . The Azov Regiment and the Right Sector's Ukrainian Volunteer Corps paramilitaries helped provide security for the activists. On 27 April 2016, 300 troops and light armored vehicles from the regiment were assigned to Odesa to safeguard public order after Oblast Governor Mikheil Saakashvili wrote in social media about a rash of pro-Russian " titushki " attacks on civilians. In 2017,
3630-536: The Russian invasion of Ukraine . Russian president Vladimir Putin alleged that Ukraine was controlled by far-right forces, such as Azov, and gave "denazification" as a reason for the invasion. The Azov regiment played a prominent role in the siege of Mariupol and made its final stand at the Azovstal steel plant . The siege ended when a significant number of the regiment's fighters, including its commander, Denys Prokopenko , surrendered to Russian forces on orders from
3751-632: The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), managed to end the siege of Azovstal and establish a humanitarian corridor . On 16 May, the Ukrainian General Staff announced that the Mariupol garrison, including remnants of the Azov Regiment stationed in Mariupol, had "fulfilled its combat mission" and that evacuations from the Azovstal steel factory had begun. Following orders from
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3872-768: The Verkhovna Rada , ultra-nationalist Dmytro Korchynsky , businessman Serhiy Taruta , and Arsen Avakov . The battalion received training near Kyiv from instructors with experience in the Georgian Armed Forces . By April, during the initial phases of the war in Donbas , the Ukrainian Armed Forces suffered a number of defeats and setbacks against the separatists, as they were ill-prepared, ill-equipped, lacking in professionalism, morale, and fighting spirit, and with severe incompetence in
3993-399: The law of Ukraine "On protecting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language" was approved by the parliament, formalizing rules governing the usage of the language and introducing penalties for violations. The literary Ukrainian language, which was preceded by Old East Slavic literature, may be subdivided into two stages: during the 12th to 18th centuries what in Ukraine
4114-570: The "Azov" Special Operations Detachment". Following its official enrollment in the National Guard, Azov received official funding from the Ukrainian Interior Ministry and other sources (believed to be Ukrainian oligarchs). Around this time Azov started receiving increased supplies of heavy arms. Biletsky left the regiment in October 2014 and his influence dissipated afterwards. On 14 October 2014, Azov servicemen took part in
4235-425: The 11th–12th century, but started becoming more similar to them around the 13th–15th centuries. The modern Russian language hence developed from the fusion of this Novgorod dialect and the common dialect spoken by the other Kievan Rus', whereas the modern Ukrainian and Belarusian languages developed from dialects which did not differ from each other in a significant way. Ukrainian linguist Stepan Smal-Stotsky denies
4356-456: The 13th century, eastern parts of Rus (including Moscow) came under Tatar rule until their unification under the Tsardom of Muscovy , whereas the south-western areas (including Kyiv ) were incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . For the following four centuries, the languages of the two regions evolved in relative isolation from each other. Direct written evidence of the existence of
4477-680: The 13th century, when German settlers were invited to Ukraine by the princes of the Kingdom of Ruthenia, German words began to appear in the language spoken in Ukraine. Their influence would continue under Poland not only through German colonists but also through the Yiddish-speaking Jews. Often such words involve trade or handicrafts. Examples of words of German or Yiddish origin spoken in Ukraine include dakh ("roof"), rura ("pipe"), rynok ("market"), kushnir ("furrier"), and majster ("master" or "craftsman"). In
4598-739: The Azov Battalion. Ihor Mosiychuk became deputy commander. On 10–11 August 2014 the Azov Battalion, together with the Shakhtarsk Battalion , the Dnipro-1 Battalion, and the Ukrainian Army , supported an assault on the city of Ilovaisk spearheaded by the Donbas Battalion . The performance of Azov was criticized by fellow members of the Donbas Battalion and by a later report by the commission of
4719-625: The Azov Regiment as "at the heart of the propaganda war" between Russia and Ukraine. France 24 reported that Azov posted victory claims on Telegram that are "often accompanied by videos of burning Russian tanks" and called the Russians "the real fascists". Vyacheslav Likhachev, an analyst at the ZMINA Center for Human Rights in Kyiv, stated that during the war, Azov operates in the same way as other regiments, "but with better PR". In January 2023, Meta decided that Azov should not be regarded as
4840-408: The Azov Regiment managed to quickly capture the towns of Shyrokyne, Pavlopil , and Kominternove , and began to advance toward Novoazovsk. The Ukrainian forces were stopped in the town of Sakhanka , where the separatists held the line by using heavy artillery and armored vehicles. By 12 February 2015 the separatists launched an all-out counter-offensive which resulted in heavy losses for Azov. Azov and
4961-466: The Azov Regiment was stationed in Mariupol at the beginning of the invasion. In March 2022, Deutsche Welle reported that the regiment was the primary unit defending Mariupol in the siege of Mariupol . As the battle raged, Azov became notable for its fierce defense of the city. For example, PBS called it "a seasoned volunteer force that is widely considered one of the country's most capable units". On 19 March 2022, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded
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5082-668: The Azov Regiment, together with other local Ukrainian forces, started to retreat into the Azovstal iron and steel works , a massive Soviet-era steel mill built to resist military attacks and bombing. The unit became prominently associated with Azovstal; its founder Biletskiy called the industrial complex "the fortress of the Azov". On 11 April 2022, the regiment accused Russian forces of using "a poisonous substance of unknown origin" in Mariupol. The allegations, however, have not been confirmed by independent fact-checkers and organizations. Later in April, remaining pockets of Ukrainian resistance inside
5203-606: The Cossack motherland, Ukrajina , as a self-appellation for the nation of Ukrainians, and Ukrajins'ka mova for the language. Many writers published works in the Romantic tradition of Europe demonstrating that Ukrainian was not merely a language of the village but suitable for literary pursuits. However, in the Russian Empire expressions of Ukrainian culture and especially language were repeatedly persecuted for fear that
5324-514: The Donbas Battalion fighters in Shyrokyne were rotated out of the front and replaced with a unit of the Ukrainian Marines . The decision to pull them out from the village was met with protests from residents of nearby Mariupol, who feared that the withdrawal would lead to Russian separatists quickly retaking the village and shelling the city again. In August 2015, the Ukrainian government pulled all volunteer battalions, including Azov, off
5445-616: The Donetsk People's Republic ) and of the Anti-Maidan movement, attempted to raid the local Patriot of Ukraine headquarters. The Black Corps retaliated with automatic weapons, and the situation escalated into a firefight between the two groups, leading to two dead on the pro-Russian side. At that time, the Black Corps had around 60 to 70 members, mostly lightly armed. Initially, the militia was mostly funded independently of
5566-578: The Geneva conventions. On 24 May 2022, The Guardian reported that Denys Prokopenko was able to briefly call his wife from captivity, and according to him surrendered Azov fighters are being held in "satisfactory" conditions, with injured combatants held in a prison in Olenivka , and a small number of severely injured fighters held in a hospital of Novoazovsk. Presumably, none of the surrendered fighters had been taken to Russia so far. Also on 30 May 2022,
5687-641: The Mariupol theatre airstrike. Bodies of 210 Ukrainian fighters have been transferred to Kyiv. These are being processed by Azov's "guardianship" unit. After a Donetsk court conducted a show trial of three foreign members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and sentenced them to death, there was worry that the prisoners of war from Azovstal would face similar show trials, with people associated with Azov especially vulnerable due to their depiction in Russian propaganda. Some civil society members also claim that Russia wants to destabilize Ukraine by pitting
5808-481: The National Guard of Ukraine, the National Police of Ukraine , and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine . The Azov Regiment regained attention during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Before the conflict, Azov was the subject of a propaganda war : Russia used the regiment's official incorporation into the National Guard of Ukraine as one of the proofs for its portrait of the Ukrainian government and military as under Nazi control, with " denazification " as
5929-420: The Orthodox church spoke Ruthenian. The 1654 Pereiaslav Agreement between Cossack Hetmanate and Alexis of Russia divided Ukraine between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia. During the following century, both monarchies became increasingly intolerant of Ukrainian own cultural and political aspirations. Ukrainians found themselves in a colonial situation. The Russian centre adopted
6050-405: The Polish nobility. Many Ukrainian nobles learned the Polish language and converted to Catholicism during that period in order to maintain their lofty aristocratic position. Lower classes were less affected because literacy was common only in the upper class and clergy. The latter were also under significant Polish pressure after the Union with the Catholic Church . Most of the educational system
6171-421: The Principality or Kingdom of Ruthenia. Also according to Andrey Zaliznyak, the Novgorodian dialect differed significantly from that of other dialects of Kievan Rus during the 11th–12th century, but started becoming more similar to them around 13th–15th centuries. The modern Russian language hence developed from the fusion of this Novgorodian dialect and the common dialect spoken by the other Kievan Rus, whereas
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#17327838874716292-501: The Russian Empire. According to the Imperial census's terminology, the Russian language ( Русскій ) was subdivided into Ukrainian (Малорусскій, ' Little Russian '), what is known as Russian today (Великорусскій, ' Great Russian '), and Belarusian (Бѣлорусскій, 'White Russian'). The following table shows the distribution of settlement by native language ( "по родному языку" ) in 1897 in Russian Empire governorates ( guberniyas ) that had more than 100,000 Ukrainian speakers. Although in
6413-460: The Soviet Union and a special term, "a language of inter-ethnic communication", was coined to denote its status. After the death of Stalin (1953), a general policy of relaxing the language policies of the past was implemented (1958 to 1963). The Khrushchev era which followed saw a policy of relatively lenient concessions to development of the languages at the local and republic level, though its results in Ukraine did not go nearly as far as those of
6534-407: The Soviet policy of Ukrainianization in the 1920s. Journals and encyclopedic publications advanced in the Ukrainian language during the Khrushchev era, as well as transfer of Crimea under Ukrainian SSR jurisdiction. Yet, the 1958 school reform that allowed parents to choose the language of primary instruction for their children, unpopular among the circles of the national intelligentsia in parts of
6655-447: The USSR, meant that non-Russian languages would slowly give way to Russian in light of the pressures of survival and advancement. The gains of the past, already largely reversed by the Stalin era, were offset by the liberal attitude towards the requirement to study the local languages (the requirement to study Russian remained). Parents were usually free to choose the language of study of their children (except in few areas where attending
6776-440: The Ukrainian high command. The unit has been designated a terrorist group by Russia since August 2022, after which Russia began sentencing Azov POWs in sham trials to punish them for defending Ukraine. According to right‑wing radicalism researcher Vyacheslav Likhachev, Azov had many roots. The brigade was founded by the activists of Patriot of Ukraine , Automaidan , Social-National Assembly and other organisations active during
6897-564: The Ukrainian language dates to the late 16th century. By the 16th century, a peculiar official language formed: a mixture of the liturgical standardised language of Old Church Slavonic , Ruthenian and Polish . The influence of the latter gradually increased relative to the former two, as the nobility and rural large-landowning class, known as the szlachta , was largely Polish-speaking. Documents soon took on many Polish characteristics superimposed on Ruthenian phonetics. Polish–Lithuanian rule and education also involved significant exposure to
7018-415: The Ukrainian language held the formal position of the principal local language in the Ukrainian SSR . However, practice was often a different story: Ukrainian always had to compete with Russian, and the attitudes of the Soviet leadership towards Ukrainian varied from encouragement and tolerance to de facto banishment. Officially, there was no state language in the Soviet Union until the very end when it
7139-465: The Ukrainian language. Examples include torba (bag) and tyutyun (tobacco). Because of the substantial number of loanwords from Polish, German, Czech and Latin, early modern vernacular Ukrainian ( prosta mova , " simple speech ") had more lexical similarity with West Slavic languages than with Russian or Church Slavonic. By the mid-17th century, the linguistic divergence between the Ukrainian and Russian languages had become so significant that there
7260-409: The Ukrainian school might have required a long daily commute) and they often chose Russian, which reinforced the resulting Russification. In this sense, some analysts argue that it was not the "oppression" or "persecution", but rather the lack of protection against the expansion of Russian language that contributed to the relative decline of Ukrainian in the 1970s and 1980s. According to this view, it
7381-410: The Verkhovna Rada on the failures of the Battle of Ilovaisk, which criticized Azov of arriving undermanned and late to the battle, and failing to cover the flanks of other forces. During the initial assault, Azov suffered heavy losses. The Azov Battalion helped to clear the city of separatists and reinforce Ukrainian positions. However, in late August they were redeployed to garrison Mariupol once more, as
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#17327838874717502-451: The aggressor". The following weeks saw fighting continuing between Azov and the separatists, worrying some analysts that it could jeopardize the Minsk II agreement. The situation in Shyrokyne became a stalemate: both sides reinforced their positions and built trenches. In the following weeks, Azov and the DPR forces exchanged fire and artillery bombings with a back-and-forth on the control of the front lines and villages. The village of Shyrokyne
7623-410: The battle, Azov remained as a garrison in Mariupol for a time, where they were tasked of patrolling the region around the Sea of Azov to prevent arms trafficking from Russia into separatist hands, and was briefly relocated to Berdiansk . On 10 June, the battalion dismissed deputy commander Yaroslav Honchar and distanced themselves from him after he made statements critical of looting and debauchery in
7744-468: The case of torture and execution of fighters from the Azov Regiment until September 2022. Amnesty International USA issued a statement saying that "Ukraine's soldiers deployed in Mariupol area have been dehumanized by Russian media and portrayed in Putin's propaganda as 'neo-Nazis' throughout Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. This characterization raises serious concerns over their fate as prisoners of war", while calling for Russia to fully respect
7865-407: The chancellery and gradually evolved into the Ruthenian language. Polish rule, which came later, was accompanied by a more assimilationist policy. By the 1569 Union of Lublin that formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a significant part of Ukrainian territory was moved from Lithuanian rule to Polish administration, resulting in cultural Polonization and visible attempts to colonize Ukraine by
7986-406: The city, Russian checkpoints stopped men and stripped them, looking for tattoos identifying them as Azov. Refugees in " filtration centers " were interrogated if they had any affiliation with Azov or knew someone in the regiment. On 22 March, Azov's military headquarters in the northern Kalmiuskyi District were captured by Russian and DPR soldiers, although it was already abandoned. By early April,
8107-415: The city, consisting of the 36th Marine Brigade , other National Guard units, and the sea port detachments of the National Police and Border Guards, conducted operations to break through into Azovstal, while members of Azov conducted support and rescue operations to assist them. By 21 April, most Ukrainian forces in Mariupol were based in Azovstal. On 21 April, Vladimir Putin officially stated that Mariupol
8228-412: The city. Regarding the ceasefire agreed on 5 September , Biletsky stated: "If it was a tactical move there is nothing wrong with it […] if it's an attempt to reach an agreement concerning Ukrainian soil with separatists then obviously it's a betrayal." At this time, Azov had 500 members. In September 2014, the Azov Battalion underwent a reorganisation, and was upgraded to a regiment, and on 11 November,
8349-403: The country, and remained particularly strong in Western Ukraine . Specific developments that led to a gradual change of the Old East Slavic vowel system into the system found in modern Ukrainian began approximately in the 12th/13th century (that is, still at the time of the Kievan Rus') with a lengthening and raising of the Old East Slavic mid vowels e and o when followed by a consonant and
8470-535: The department found no evidence of human rights violations committed by the unit. This policy shift allows the Azov Brigade to use the same US military equipment as any other unit in the Ukrainian National Guard. In August 2024, the brigade was reportedly diverted from Lyman to assist in the ongoing fighting around Niu-York . In September 2024, the Azov brigade was reported to be part of Ukrainian reinforcements to Pokrovsk conducting small-scale counterattacks slowing or slightly pushing Russian gains back. Most of
8591-407: The existence of a common Old East Slavic language at any time in the past. Similar points of view were shared by Yevhen Tymchenko , Vsevolod Hantsov , Olena Kurylo , Ivan Ohienko and others. According to this theory, the dialects of East Slavic tribes evolved gradually from the common Proto-Slavic language without any intermediate stages during the 6th through 9th centuries. The Ukrainian language
8712-415: The families of Azov troops, Ukrainian marines and other soldiers. Kateryna Prokopenko , the wife of Denys Prokopenko, took a major role in these demonstrations, which were broken up by police. These protests accused the Ukrainian government and the international community of failing to do enough to assist wounded soldiers currently in the Azovstal steelworks. In a statement made to the press on 8 May 2022 from
8833-554: The fighters who surrendered would be treated "in accordance with international standards" while Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address that "the work of bringing the boys home continues, and this work needs delicacy – and time". Prominent Russian lawmakers, Anatoly Wasserman and Vyacheslav Volodin , called on the government to deny prisoner exchanges for members of the Azov Regiment, and try them in Russia as "nazi war criminals" instead. Leonid Slutsky suggested to lift
8954-776: The front lines around Mariupol, replacing them with regular military units. The primary base of the regiment became a seaside villa in Urzuf, a village in Donetsk Oblast . On 1 October 2015, the Azov Civil Corps joined the Blockade of Crimea. The action was started by the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People on 20 September as a massive traffic obstruction of transport traffic going into Crimea to protest
9075-587: The future of surrendered combatants, from pre-arranged exchange to Russian POWs with support of international humanitarian organizations, to criminal prosecution in Russia on war crime and terrorism charges. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, according to Azov chief of staff on 18 May, Ukraine had proposed a prisoner swap of the most severely wounded prisoners, but Russia had countered "everyone or no one". Russian press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Russian president Vladimir Putin had guaranteed that
9196-454: The high command, over the next few days Azov members in Azovstal, including Prokopenko, surrendered to Russian forces among ~2.5k Ukrainian soldiers from the plant, and were taken to Russian-controlled territory of the Donetsk People's Republic. The ICRC registered the surrendered troops as prisoners of war at the request of both sides, collecting information to contact their families. Ukrainian and Russian sources make contradicting statements on
9317-521: The high command. Because of this, many civilians created militias and paramilitary groups , known as " volunteer battalions ", to fight the separatists on their own initiative. Most of those who joined, including Azov, were Russian speakers. As the situation in the Donbas deteriorated, on 13 April 2014, Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov issued a decree authorizing the creation of new paramilitary forces of up to 12,000 people. The former Black Corps
9438-545: The interests of captives and the victims of Russian war crimes against each other. Zelenskyy declared in early June that the defenders of Mariupol had become "public prisoners", and it was not in Russian interests to use violence against them. However, other Ukrainian sources claimed the DPR was preparing a trial against members of Azov in order to close the loop of Russia's "denazification" of Ukraine narrative. Ukrainian language Ukrainian ( українська мова , ukrainska mova , IPA: [ʊkrɐˈjinʲsʲkɐ ˈmɔʋɐ] )
9559-417: The language of much of the literature was purely or heavily Old Church Slavonic . Some theorists see an early Ukrainian stage in language development here, calling it Old Ruthenian; others term this era Old East Slavic . Russian theorists tend to amalgamate Rus' to the modern nation of Russia, and call this linguistic era Old Russian. However, according to Russian linguist Andrey Zaliznyak (2012), people from
9680-607: The merger of the Old East Slavic vowel phonemes и /i/ and ы /ɨ/ into the specifically Ukrainian phoneme /ɪ ~ e/, spelled with и (in the 13th/14th centuries), and the fricativisation of the Old East Slavic consonant г /g/, probably first to /ɣ/ (in the 13th century), with /ɦ/ as a reflex in Modern Ukrainian, did not happen in Russian. Only the fricativisation of Old East Slavic г /g/ occurred in Belarusian, where
9801-462: The modern Ukrainian and Belarusian languages developed from the dialects which did not differ from each other in a significant way. After the fall of the Kingdom of Ruthenia, Ukrainians mainly fell under the rule of Lithuania and then Poland . Local autonomy of both rule and language was a marked feature of Lithuanian rule. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Old East Slavic became the language of
9922-590: The moratorium on death sentences in Russia to allow execution of surrendered Azov fighters. According to international human rights law professor Christina Binder at the Bundeswehr University Munich , despite Russia leaving the Council of Europe in March 2022, its provisions are effective for an additional 6 months. This leaves open the potential for a case at European Court of Human Rights in
10043-508: The name Little Russia for Ukraine and Little Russian for the language, an expression that originated in Byzantine Greek and may originally have meant "old, original, fundamental Russia", and had been in use since the 14th century. Ukrainian high culture went into a long period of steady decline. The Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was taken over by the Russian Empire. Most of the remaining Ukrainian schools also switched to Polish or Russian in
10164-412: The native language for the majority in the nation on the eve of Ukrainian independence, a significant share of ethnic Ukrainians were russified. In Donetsk there were no Ukrainian language schools and in Kyiv only a quarter of children went to Ukrainian language schools. The Russian language was the dominant vehicle, not just of government function, but of the media, commerce, and modernity itself. This
10285-539: The new Offensive Guard . The unit has drawn controversy over its early and allegedly continuing association with far-right groups and neo-Nazi ideology, its use of controversial symbols linked to Nazism , and early allegations that members of the unit participated in human rights violations. Some experts have been critical of the regiment's role within the larger Azov Movement , a political umbrella group made up of veterans and organizations linked to Azov, and its possible far-right political ambitions, despite claims of
10406-425: The population said Ukrainian was their native language. Until the 1920s the urban population in Ukraine grew faster than the number of Ukrainian speakers. This implies that there was a (relative) decline in the use of Ukrainian language. For example, in Kyiv, the number of people stating that Ukrainian was their native language declined from 30.3% in 1874 to 16.6% in 1917. During the seven-decade-long Soviet era ,
10527-516: The present-day reflex is /ɣ/. Ahatanhel Krymsky and Aleksey Shakhmatov assumed the existence of the common spoken language of Eastern Slavs only in prehistoric times. According to their point of view, the diversification of the Old East Slavic language took place in the 8th or early 9th century. Russian linguist Andrey Zaliznyak stated that the Old Novgorod dialect differed significantly from that of other dialects of Kievan Rus' during
10648-589: The printing of Ukrainian texts accompanying musical scores. A period of leniency after 1905 was followed by another strict ban in 1914, which also affected Russian-occupied Galicia. For much of the 19th century the Austrian authorities demonstrated some preference for Polish culture, but the Ukrainians were relatively free to partake in their own cultural pursuits in Halychyna and Bukovina , where Ukrainian
10769-423: The regiment could not be 100% sure all civilians had been evacuated due to lack of equipment and the fact they had not been assisted by specialist organizations. Palamar said that during the evacuation of civilians, three Azov soldiers had been killed and one wounded, and said that criticisms made towards the troops about the speed of the evacuation were 'extremely painful'. An Azovstal factory worker who had stayed in
10890-568: The regiment was officially enrolled into the National Guard of Ukraine . This was part of larger policy changes by the Ukrainian government of integrating the independent volunteer battalions under either the Ukrainian Ground Forces or the National Guard into the formal chain-of-command of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO). The now-Azov Regiment was designated as " Military Unit 3057 " and officially named
11011-506: The regiment's depoliticization. Others argue that the regiment has changed, tempering its far-right underpinnings as it became part of the National Guard. The Azov Regiment has been a recurring theme of Russian propaganda . The regiment's size was estimated to be around 2,500 combatants in 2017, and around 900 in 2022. Most of the unit's members are Russian speakers from Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine. It also includes members from other countries. The regiment gained renewed attention during
11132-496: The related Social-National Assembly (SNA), who had been previously arrested in 2011 accused of robbery and assault, although his case had never reached the courts, was released from prison after the new government considered him a political prisoner of the former Yanukovytch government . After returning to Kharkiv, he rallied some activists from Patriot of Ukraine, SNA, the AutoMaidan movement and some ultras groups, and formed
11253-460: The rest of the Ukrainian forces retreated from Sakhanka into Shyrokyne. On 12 February 2015, the Minsk II ceasefire was signed by both parties of the conflict, and the territory around Shyrokyne was declared to be part of a proposed demilitarized buffer zone. However, the DPR rebels did not consider combat in the village itself as part of the ceasefire, while Biletsky saw the ceasefire as "appeasing
11374-577: The rural regions of the Ukrainian provinces, 80% of the inhabitants said that Ukrainian was their native language in the Census of 1897 (for which the results are given above), in the urban regions only 32.5% of the population claimed Ukrainian as their native language. For example, in Odesa (then part of the Russian Empire), at the time the largest city in the territory of current Ukraine, only 5.6% of
11495-760: The sixteenth and first half of the 17th century, when Ukraine was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, albeit in spite of being part of the PLC, not as a result. Among many schools established in that time, the Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium (the predecessor of the modern Kyiv-Mohyla Academy ), founded by the Orthodox Metropolitan Peter Mogila , was the most important. At that time languages were associated more with religions: Catholics spoke Polish, and members of
11616-464: The size of the regiment was estimated at more than 2,500 members. In 2019 the Azov Regiment spent eight months on the front line at the Svitlodarsk arc, following more than three years of being withdrawn from the front. In June 2019, to commemorate the five-year anniversary of the Ukrainian victory in the battle of Mariupol , there was a military parade composed by members of the Azov Regiment,
11737-471: The so-called Russian Centre have also joined Azov. According to Katerina Sergatskova in Hromadske , parts of the Azov Brigade had its roots in a group of ultras of FC Metalist Kharkiv named "Sect 82" (1982 is the year of the founding of the group), which had ultranationalist leanings. In late February 2014, during the pro-Russian unrest when a separatist movement was active in Kharkiv, Sect 82 occupied
11858-496: The soldiers were unable to treat properly. They called for an immediate evacuation where these soldiers could be provided with medical assistance. In an interview with the Kyiv Post , a soldier of the Azov Regiment repeated this call, alleging that he had been tortured and witnessed killings by Russian separatists when he had been captured in the previous phase of the war. On 17 May 2022, negotiations, which included mediators from
11979-410: The state, with Jewish-Ukrainian billionaire and oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi as their primary financier. Umland notes the crucial role of Dnipropetrovs’k regional administration , headed by Kolomoyskyi, in Azov's creation. When Azov deputy commander Ihor Mosiychuk made antisemitic comments about Kolomoyskyi, he was removed. Among other early patrons of the battalion were Oleh Lyashko , a member of
12100-414: The steelworks, leading figures within the regiment stated that they would not surrender. They criticized the Ukrainian government for negotiating with Russia, as well as countries who refused to supply Azov with weapons in previous years. In this news conference, Sviatoslav Palamar , second in command of the Azov Regiment, accused Ukrainian politicians of cynicism for failing to visit Azovstal. He stated that
12221-493: The suburbs of Donetsk, clashing with DPR fighters. With Novoazovsk captured, the separatists began preparing a second offensive against Mariupol. In early September 2014, the Azov Battalion was engaged in the Second Battle of Mariupol . As the separatist forces closed in on the city, the Azov Battalion were in the vanguard of the defense, providing reconnaissance around the villages of Shyrokyne and Bezimenne , located
12342-462: The term native language may not necessarily associate with the language they use more frequently. The overwhelming majority of ethnic Ukrainians consider the Ukrainian language native , including those who often speak Russian. According to the official 2001 census data, 92.3% of Kyiv region population responded "Ukrainian" to the native language ( ridna mova ) census question, compared with 88.4% in 1989, and 7.2% responded "Russian". In 2019,
12463-558: The territories controlled by these respective countries, which was followed by a new wave of Polonization and Russification of the native nobility. Gradually the official language of Ukrainian provinces under Poland was changed to Polish, while the upper classes in the Russian part of Ukraine used Russian. During the 19th century, a revival of Ukrainian self-identification manifested in the literary classes of both Russian-Empire Dnieper Ukraine and Austrian Galicia . The Brotherhood of Sts Cyril and Methodius in Kyiv applied an old word for
12584-468: The title of Hero of Ukraine to Azov's commander in Mariupol, Lieutenant Colonel Denys Prokopenko . On 9 March Russia carried out an airstrike on a maternity hospital , killing multiple civilians, and justified the bombing by the alleged presence of Azov troops in the building; similarly, on 16 March, the Mariupol theatre, which was holding civilians, was bombed , Russia accused Azov of having perpetrated it, trying to frame Russia for it. As civilians fled
12705-623: The unrest in Kharkiv worsened, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Militsiya pulled out from the city, the Black Corps started to patrol the streets, protecting pro-Ukrainian activists and attacking pro-Russian ones. On 14 March, members of the pro-Russian militant organization "Oplot" (which would later become a separatist military battalion ), and the head of the Donetsk branch, Alexander Zakharchenko (who would become Head of
12826-516: The use of Ukrainian. The educational system in Ukraine has been transformed over the first decade of independence from a system that is partly Ukrainian to one that is overwhelmingly so. The government has also mandated a progressively increased role for Ukrainian in the media and commerce. In the 2001 census , 67.5% of the country's population named Ukrainian as their native language (a 2.8% increase from 1989), while 29.6% named Russian (a 3.2% decrease). For many Ukrainians (of various ethnic origins),
12947-506: The withdrawing of Azov and Shakhtarsk battalions as trying to start infighting between the volunteer battalions. In the battle of Novoazovsk from 25 to 28 August 2014 the Azov Battalion and Ukrainian forces did not fare much better, as they were pushed back by superior firepower of the tanks and armored vehicles of the separatists and Russians. On 11 August 2014 another detachment of the Azov Battalion, backed by Ukrainian paratroopers , captured Marinka from pro-Russian rebels and entered
13068-445: Was "liberated" and placed an order for his forces not to storm the complex, but instead blockade it. Nonetheless, the following days saw bombing and shelling of Azovstal. There were also civilians sheltering in the complex. On 3 May, the Russian forces in Mariupol restarted their attacks on Azovstal. The following day it was reported that the Russians had broken into the plant. In early May 2022 protests took place in Kyiv, organised by
13189-587: Was a need for translators during negotiations for the Treaty of Pereyaslav , between Bohdan Khmelnytsky , head of the Zaporozhian Host , and the Russian state. By the 18th century, Ruthenian had diverged into regional variants, developing into the modern Belarusian , Rusyn , and Ukrainian languages. The accepted chronology of Ukrainian divides the language into Old Ukrainian, Middle Ukrainian, and Modern Ukrainian. Shevelov explains that much of this
13310-474: Was almost completely destroyed as a result. On 1 July 2015, the separatists withdrew from Shyrokyne. Separatist leader Denis Pushilin declared they were pulling back as an "act of good will" to conform to the Minsk II agreements. However, Biletsky claimed the action was a result of the separatists suffering heavy casualties and not being able to sustain their operation. On 29 July 2015 the Azov Regiment and
13431-556: Was exiled for seven years to Arkhangelsk . The Ukrainian magazine Osnova was discontinued. In 1863, the tsarist interior minister Pyotr Valuyev proclaimed in his decree that "there never has been, is not, and never can be a separate Little Russian language". Although the name of Ukraine is known since 1187, it was not applied to the language until the mid-19th century. The linguonym Ukrainian language appears in Yakub Holovatsky 's book from 1849, listed there as
13552-448: Was formed by convergence of tribal dialects, mostly due to an intensive migration of the population within the territory of today's Ukraine in later historical periods. This point of view was also supported by George Shevelov 's phonological studies, which argue that specific features were already recognizable in the southern dialects of Old East Slavic (seen as ancestors to Ukrainian) as far back as these varieties can be documented. As
13673-471: Was gradually Polonized. In Ruthenia, the language of administrative documents gradually shifted towards Polish. Polish has had heavy influences on Ukrainian (particularly in Western Ukraine ). The southwestern Ukrainian dialects are transitional to Polish. As the Ukrainian language developed further, some borrowings from Tatar and Turkish occurred. Ukrainian culture and language flourished in
13794-562: Was inevitable that successful careers required a good command of Russian, while knowledge of Ukrainian was not vital, so it was common for Ukrainian parents to send their children to Russian-language schools, even though Ukrainian-language schools were usually available. The number of students in Russian-language in Ukraine schools was constantly increasing, from 14 percent in 1939 to more than 30 percent in 1962. The Communist Party leader from 1963 to 1972, Petro Shelest , pursued
13915-569: Was initially based in Kharkiv, where they were tasked with defending the city against a possible pro-Russian uprising, but as the situation in the city subsided and calmed down, they were deployed further south to help in the war effort. They were then sanctioned by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry as a unit of the Special Tasks Patrol Police, and became officially known as the " Azov " Battalion, which
14036-490: Was lessened only slightly after 1985. The management of dissent by the local Ukrainian Communist Party was more fierce and thorough than in other parts of the Soviet Union. As a result, at the start of the Mikhail Gorbachev reforms perebudova and hlasnist’ (Ukrainian for perestroika and glasnost ), Ukraine under Shcherbytsky was slower to liberalize than Russia itself. Although Ukrainian still remained
14157-710: Was officially formed on 5 May 2014 in Berdiansk . The battalion had its baptism by fire in Mariupol in May 2014, where it was involved in combat during the First Battle of Mariupol as part of a counter-offensive to recapture the city from separatists of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). On 13 June, together with fellow Special Tasks Patrol Police battalion Dnipro-1 , they retook key buildings and strongholds occupied by separatists, killing at least five separatists and destroying one enemy BRDM-2 armoured vehicle and one armored truck during battle. After
14278-549: Was proclaimed in 1990 that Russian language was the all-Union state language and that the constituent republics had rights to declare additional state languages within their jurisdictions. Still it was implicitly understood in the hopes of minority nations that Ukrainian would be used in the Ukrainian SSR, Uzbek would be used in the Uzbek SSR , and so on. However, Russian was used as the lingua franca in all parts of
14399-400: Was substantially less the case for western Ukraine, which escaped the artificial famine , Great Purge , and most of Stalinism . And this region became the center of a hearty, if only partial, renaissance of the Ukrainian language during independence. Since 1991, Ukrainian has been the official state language in Ukraine, and the state administration implemented government policies to broaden
14520-596: Was to create a buffer zone to prevent more bombings of Mariupol and push the separatists forces back into Novoazovsk. The attack by the Azov Regiment was reinforced by the Ukrainian Army, and Air Assault Forces , as well the Donbas Battalion of the National Guard, the independent volunteer battalions Ukrainian Volunteer Corps , and the Chechen Muslim Sheikh Mansur Battalion . In February 2015, after breaking through DPR lines,
14641-547: Was widely used in education and official documents. The suppression by Russia hampered the literary development of the Ukrainian language in Dnipro Ukraine, but there was a constant exchange with Halychyna, and many works were published under Austria and smuggled to the east. By the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the collapse of Austro-Hungary in 1918, Ukrainians were ready to openly develop
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