The commander of the 1st battalion of the Azov regiment, Oleg Mudrak, who participated in the defense of Azovstal in Mariupol and spent several months in Russian captivity, has died. On the death of Mudrak informed February 22 in Telegram his nephew Daniil.Mudrak.
“He burned this life, enjoyed and lit the hearts of all the people around. He did everything possible for me to become who I am. Therefore, he will never disappear from my head and heart. I want to be a man worthy of Oleg, so that he would watch me from Valhalla and felt only pride in me,” Mudrak’s nephew wrote, adding that he did not want his death to become a “holiday of tears.”
Officially, the cause of death of the battalion commander was not reported. Ekaterina Prokopenko, wife of Azov Commander, head of the Association of Azovstal Defenders’ Families wrote on Instagram Stories that Mudrak’s heart stopped as a result of torture experienced in Russian captivity.
According to information hromadske , Mudrak has been fighting for Ukraine since 2014. During the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, he defended Mariupol and Azovstal. In May, he was taken prisoner, where he managed to survive the Russian terrorist attack in the colony in Olenivka, in which Mudrak was kept along with other defenders of Mariupol.
In August 2022, journalist and writer Stanislav Aseev on Twitter published photos showing how Mudrak’s appearance was affected by being in Russian captivity.
Mudrak was released from Russian captivity on September 21 as a result of the largest exchange since the beginning of the war. The coordinating headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war then published a complete list of Ukrainians who managed to be returned from Russian captivity as a result of this exchange. Mudrak appears in it at number 114.
On July 29, 2022, in Olenivka, where most of the captured defenders of Mariupol were held, as a result of a terrorist attack, about 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed, as the invaders said. The Russians said that the blow was allegedly delivered by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the colony in Olenivka was targeted and deliberately fired upon by Russian troops. The occupiers thus tried to hide the torture of prisoners and executions. Ukraine did not inflict any artillery or missile strikes on Olenivka, stressed the General Staff.
On September 21, Ukraine and Russia held the largest exchange of prisoners since the start of the Russian invasion. 215 defenders were released from captivity, 108 of them were Azov. Russia was handed over 55 Russian soldiers and Viktor Medvedchuk, the people’s deputy of Ukraine, the godfather of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is suspected of treason. He was exchanged for 200 Ukrainian defenders.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine would not be sorry to give Medvedchuk away for 200 real soldiers.
