United States lifts ban on use of Western weapons transferred to Azov brigade
After several years of the U.S. ban, the Joe Biden administration allowed the Ukrainian Azov brigade to use the transferred American weapons.
The Washington Post writes about this with reference to the U.S. Department of State.
From now on, the brigade will have access to U.S. military assistance on a par with others.
"After a thorough inspection, the Ukrainian 12th special purpose brigade Azov passed the Leahy inspection conducted by the U.S. Department of State," the message said.
They note that the brigade did not find any signs of human rights violations, as a result of which Azov was banned from using American weapons ten years ago. Some of the officials believed that the Azov troopers adhere to xenophobic and ultra-nationalist views. No evidence of this was found.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on July 8, 2023, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, took five commanders from Turkiye who commanded the defense of the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol, Donetsk Region.
Denys "Redis" Prokopenko (the commander of the Azov regiment at that time), Sviatoslav "Kalyna" Palamar (Prokopenko's deputy), Serhii "Volyna" Volynskyi (acting commander of the 36th Marine Brigade), Oleh Khomenko ( senior officer of Azov) and Denys Shlega (commander of the 12th brigade of the NGU).