Donetsk, Mar 30 - DAN. Authorities of Kiev-controlled settlements in Donetsk Region are drawing lists of houses to accommodate gunmen from Azov special task force regiment, DPR Operations Command deputy commander Eduard Basurin told a news briefing on Thursday.
"According to residents, local authorities in Novomikhailovka, Slavnoye, Sladkoye, Stepnoye and Berezovoye west of Donetsk and Novotroitskoye and Taramchuk south of the city are drawing lists of abandoned houses to billet 18th Azov separate special task force regiment of Ukraine’s National Guard,” Basurin said.
Azov personnel are to replace radicals from 24th separate air assault battalion ‘Aidar’ in troops rotation; the places where Aidar was billeted have been looted and wrecked, he added.
Azov regiment, one of the first Ukrainian forces units deployed to Donbass is notorious for particular cruelty during the punitive operation. It was involved in torching Mariupol Town Hall in May 2014 when dozens of civilians perished in the fire. Kiev’s National Guard carried out concentrated strikes at DPR settlements and is responsible for destroying Shirokino village in southern Donbass. Many Azov gunmen do not hide their Nazi, racist or anti-Semitic views. *jk