>>512146036 (OP)Ukraine's Azov Regiment visits Israel: 'Mariupol is our Masada'
August 24, 2022.
A delegation from Ukraine's Azov Regiment visited Israel in recent days, meeting with officials and IDF reservists and speaking about the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The delegation arrived in Israel on Thursday and was led by Azov officer Ilya Samoilenko, one of the soldiers who barricaded themselves beneath the Azovstal steelworks during attempts to protect Mariupol from the Russian invasion earlier this year. Joining him in leading the delegation was Yuliya Fedosyuk, deputy head of the Association of Azovstal Defenders' Families.
"When today in Israel we talk about the defense of Mariupol, the Israelis, understanding, first of all, the military differences between the war 2,000 years ago and today, constantly repeat: 'Mariupol is your Masada.'"
While the Azov Batallion, the predecessor of the Azov Regiment, was heavily associated with neo-Nazi and far-right symbolism and ideologies, the Azov Regiment today insists that it has largely purged those sentiments from the regiment.
Russia has pointed to the Azov Regiment in its many claims that Ukraine is a "neo-Nazi state" and has attacked Israel for its support of Ukraine and the regiment.
In May, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed that "Israeli mercenaries are actually shoulder-to-shoulder with the Azov militants.โ Russian officials have also accused Israel of supporting a "neo-Nazi regime" in Kyiv.
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-725351