Relatives of captive Azovstal defenders organise Christmas campaign in Kyiv
Families of the captive soldiers from the Azov Regiment have organised the Azov Regiment: Christmas in Captivity campaign at the Sofiiska Square in Kyiv.
Source: Suspilne, Ukraine's public broadcaster
Details: The families of the captives are asking all Ukrainians who celebrate Christmas on 25 December to pray for the Azovstal defenders.
They have installed two tables at the square. One of them is covered with a tablecloth and has traditional Christmas Eve dishes. Dressed up people are sitting behind it.
The other table has a wreath made of branches and metal bowls on it. Guys in military uniform are sitting behind it; they represent the Azovstal defenders who are now being held captive. The barbed wire divides the tables.
People with banners "Where is Azov?", "Bring Azov back", "Azovstal – to get everyone back alive", etc. are standing behind the table.
Background:
- As part of prisoner swap with the Russian occupiers on 21 September, Ukraine succeeded in releasing 215 Ukrainian defenders, including the commanders who defended the Azovstal Steel Plant: Denys "Redis" Prokopenko, Serhii "Volyna" Volynskyi, Sviatoslav Palamar, Denys Shleha and Oleh Khomenko. According to the agreements, five Azovstal commanders have to stay in Turkey till the end of the war under personal guarantees of protection and security of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
- On 27 September, Olha Kravchenko, the head of the department dealing with PoWs and their families of the Azov Patronage Service, reported that about 800 Azov members remain in Russian captivity; over 40 of them are women, and some among them are pregnant.
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