One of the bloodiest, most notorious battles of Russia’s war against Ukraine took place in the early months of the invasion in Mariupol, a city on the Sea of Azov, where the last heroic defenders held out against the Russian onslaught in the Azovstal steel factory for three long months, from February 24th to May 20th. The difficulty of that battle has been a thorn in the Kremlin’s side for three years, leading Vladimir Putin to designate the Azov Brigade a terrorist organization and to call for its members to face tribunals and possible execution.

Little wonder, then, that those fighters who were taken alive, and remain in Russian captivity, have consistently been passed over for exchange during the bilateral prisoner swaps, including the most recent one on May 25th of this year.

Following completion of the last phase of the exchange of 1,000 prisoners, Denys Prokopenko, commander of the 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov, called the absence of any Azov fighters in the process a “disgrace to the entire state.” [Mykyta Peretiatko, RFE/RL, June 3, 2025.]

While Russia is generally being blamed for refusing to return any of the Azov prisoners, Prokopenko believes that Ukrainian officials are also at fault for sticking with a negotiating “mechanism that stopped working.” He has said:

“This feels like a mockery. If that were truly the case [that Russia was solely to blame], neither I nor other Azov fighters would have returned from captivity. [Id.]

Ukraine’s deputy head of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Andriy Yusov, disagreed and accused Russia of purposely complicating the exchange process in order to increase pressure on the Ukrainian government. He argued that “Our prisoners are in Putin’s hands . . . [Russian special services] exploit the prisoner issue for the purpose of warfare against Ukraine.” [Id.]

But, though Yusov is certainly not wrong, Prokopenko maintains that “We must find alternatives, offer them someone more valuable than a contracted soldier. Ukraine is packed with Russian agents; all our special services know this very well.” [Id.]

In other words, Ukraine should up the ante.

Regardless of the reasons for Russia’s continuing to stonewall the return of any members of the Azov Brigade, it is clear that three years is far too long a time to hold them when so many others have been sent home. The Ukrainian, European and U.S. negotiators must make this a priority in their continuing talks.

*. *. *

And in the meantime, here again is our list of those known to be held hostage of the Putin regime throughout Russia, Belarus and Ukraine:

Prisoners of War:

The People of Ukraine
The Azov 12

Political Prisoners:

David Barnes
Ales Bialiatski (in Belarus)
Gordon Black
Andrei Chapiuk (in Belarus)
Antonina Favorskaya
Konstantin Gabov
Robert Gilman
Stephen James Hubbard
Sergey Karelin
Ihar Karney (in Belarus) on
Vadim Kobzev
Darya Kozyreva
Artyom Kriger
Uladzimir Labkovich (in Belarus)
Michael Travis Leake
Aleksei Liptser
Ihar Losik (in Belarus)
Mikita Losik (in Belarus)
Daniel Martindale
Farid Mehralizada (in Azerbaijan)
Nika Novak
Marfa Rabkova (in Belarus)
Igor Sergunin
Dmitry Shatresov
Robert Shonov
Eugene Spector
Valiantsin Stafanovic (in Belarus)
Siarhei Tsikhanouski (in Belarus)
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland
Vladislav Yesypenko (in Crimea)
Yuras Zyankovich (in Belarus)

. . . and any others I may have missed.

You are not forgotten.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/8/25