The Azov Battalion was reorganized and became a Brigademembers of which have returned to fronts in eastern Ukraine, fighting Russian military forces, Kiev said.

“The legendary Azov brigade has begun combat operations in the Serebrianka forest region,” said Colonel Mykola Ursalovich, who is in charge of operational planning for the Ukrainian National Guard, according to a statement released today.

Serebryanka is located in the eastern Ukrainian province of Luhansk. The Azov Brigade also includes an artillery unitaccording to the announcement.

The volunteer unit, founded by far-right extremists in 2014, has been used in the Russian narrative of “Nazi rule” in Ukraine. One of Moscow’s justifications for the Russian invasion of Ukraine was to “de-Naziize” its neighbor.

During the fighting around the port of Mariupol, the former Azov battalion was surrounded and the survivors were captured by the Russians. Most of the seriously wounded were later exchanged for Russian prisoners.

Azov officers, who were handed over to Turkey by Russia, returned home in early July after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Turkey. The Turkish move had provoked Moscow’s strong reaction.

According to the original agreement, these officers would remain in Turkey until the end of the war.