Andriy Biletsky
Andriy Biletskyi is a Ukrainian politician and former military commander who founded the Azov Regiment (originally a volunteer battalion in 2014) and led the associated Azov movement. He commanded Azov forces during the battle of Mariupol in 2022 and has since returned to front-line duties in eastern Ukraine. Elected to the Verkhovna Rada in 2014 as leader of the Patriot of Ukraine party, he has remained a controversial figure known for far-right nationalist views.
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Ukraine's Biletsky says Russian 'northern claw' on Donetsk axis effectively destroyed
Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky, commander of Ukraine's 3rd Army Corps, said in a television interview that the Russian 'northern claw' on the Donetsk axis has been effectively routed and destroyed as part of Operation Vivaldi. He described the Russian plan as a pincer to encircle Ukrainian 'fortress cities' from the south via Dobropillia and from the north via Sviatohirsk toward Barvinkove, and said halting the encirclement would force Russian forces into costly frontal assaults on the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka-Kostiantynivka agglomerations.