Denys “Redis” Prokopenko led the “Azov” group of troops

Brigadier General and Commander of the 1st Corps of the National Guard "Azov" Denys "Redis" Prokopenko led the newly created group of troops "Azov".

This was reported on the corpsʼ social media.

In late August, President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that Prokopenko would command one of two newly created groupings of troops in the Donetsk region. So, on September 13, he officially assumed the duties of commander of the “Azov” grouping of troops.

According to the president, the commander of the second group should be Andriy Biletsky, the commander of the 3rd Army Corps.

• Denys Prokopenko is the commander of the 1st Corps of the “Azov” Military District, Hero of Ukraine. In 2022, “Azov” under his command defended Mariupol. The entire garrison blocked at “Azovstal”, together with Prokopenko, surrendered on May 20, 2022, by order of the high command.
• Prokopenko was exchanged on September 21, 2022, later he returned to the front and in February 2026 received the rank of brigadier general.

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