One of the founders of the Nazi battalion of Ukraine, which Putin wants to get rid of, former head of Dynamo Kyiv Ultras, but now traces of his past are erased from the Internet. And 14,000 soldiers and dozens of missiles are ready for him
In the Russian edition of Wikipedia, the name of Denis Projipenko is at the top of the list of commanders of the Azov battalion. The highest ranking. Moscow’s number one enemy, the man who embodies the very Nazi Ukraine that Putin wants to rid them of. On the Kiev pages, however, nothing. Projipenko is not there. Gone, erased the digital memory. Total purification of everything that concerns him. If the Internet existed, the head of the military resistance in Mariupol would be a man without a past, without fame, but also without suspected neo Nazi sympathies that would harm the Ukrainian cause today. Ninetyone, blond, narrow nose and blue eyes, Major Denis Projipenko, one of the founders of the Azov battalion.
Trained as a raider, handsome as an actor, for years on the front line against pro Russian Donbass and today, in these minutes, trapped in Mariupol. Surrounded with no chance for reinforcements. Bombarded by sky and sea. Chased by drones and electronic ears. A message from him, a sighting, a tip is enough to point a rocket at him. Moscow knows how. He succeeded against pro independence President Dudaev during the siege of Grozny in Chechnya in the 1990s. And then the technologies were much more backward.
In Mariupol, 1415,000 Russian soldiers pour a barrage of explosives over the city to eliminate him and his men. Dozens of missiles are poised to destroy it, and thousands of soldiers to collect the bounty placed on him by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who is close to Kremlin leader Putin. Dead or alive. Half a million dollars. What happens to the soldiers defending Mariupol and its commander Projipenko has the tragic depth of the great battles that change the course of history and arouse strong emotions. Although the protagonists are all dead now. The 960 zealots of Masada. The 300 Spartans at Thermopylae. The starvation of Stalingrad. All sacrifices, victorious or lost, not so important to the story, can mark the consecration of an identity that is no longer negotiable. For Major Projipenko, the most direct reference is another, even engraved in a basrelief of the SaintGermaindesPrs Abbey in Paris. It is the battle fought by the free Cossacks of the Zaparozhzhie steppe against the LithuanianPolish army of King John II Casimir in the mid17th century. Orthodox versus Catholics. An empire of the west against the steppes of the east. The Battle of Berestenchko is probably the largest land battle of a century, which is by no means peaceful. The Cossacks of the Crimea and the Dnieper Basin did not want to submit. They lost, but 400 years later Denis Projipenko is still inspired by their struggle to justify his.
The latest news about the war in Ukraine
He is probably ready to become the new Ukrainian national hero. And his political sympathies may or may not be exploited, depending on who takes possession of the gory legend. Former head of Dynamo Kyiv ultras, linked to the Donbass war, Projipenko volunteered in 2014 to defend the country. Now he’s a professional soldier, trained, has learned to fight real battles, not against stadium tear gas. The Russians say he’s had foreign instructors, from Delta Forces to the Foreign Legion.
The core of the first volunteers in 2014 is structured over the months. Obtains weapons. He joined the National Guard in the fall of 2014, at which point he eliminated some elements of the extreme right. Since then, in theory, he should adhere to the rules of the national army, which are forbidden from condemning Nazism. The atmosphere within the battalionturnedbrigade remains that of its iconography, the symbol so similar to the Nazi rune, the black Tshirts, the shaved heads, the fisttochest salute. All very militaristic, macho and supernationalistic and maybe beyond that.
Three days ago, the major sent a selfie video of himself from the Mariupol trap, similar to that taken by President Zelenskyy. But in the case of Projipenko, it wasn’t just the green shirt that made one think of war. Major Azov has helmet, weapons and clips. Speak in English directly into the room. A peeling concrete wall behind him. The chorus of explosions accompanies his words. Death a few hundred yards away. He keeps talking undeterred. It was the twelfth day of the encirclement. We are Azov on the 21st, marines and the Ukrainian National Guard are defending Mariupol. Three thousand fighters, maybe fewer, fighting at least 14,000 Russians. “We perform miracles,” says the commander in the video.
To defeat a defending garrison, military doctrine generally requires an attacker to attacker ratio of 3 to 1. Here we are almost 5 to 1, and yet Projipenko and his men did not give up. They will not be able to because they fear that there will be annihilation instead of honor in arms. We need a guarantor. But there are no intermediaries. Outside the siege, outside of Mariupol, other Azov officials are asking for permission to use Ukrainian military units to break through the Russian circle. They ask for reinforcements to save the Major and his men. Without answer. The 21st century witnesses an ancient tragedy in which three thousand men fight for their homeland. Mariupol will fall overnight. Turning it into a myth does not suit Putin. Being Ukrainian will become even more of a different, unforgiving alternative to being Russian. But this whole war as it is unfolding did not suit the Kremlin. Rationality disappears under the bombs. Humanity too.