Denys Prokopenko

Denys Hennadiyovych Prokopenko (born 27 June 1991) is a Ukrainian military officer who is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard of Ukraine and commander of the 12th Special Forces Brigade "Azov", as well as a prominent participant of the Russo-Ukrainian War.

In response to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Prokopenko rose as a leader defending Mariupol from the Russian siege, and commanded the Mariupol garrison. For his leadership role on the frontlines of the war, he was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine in March 2022.

Prokopenko is also known as Redis, (proper noun with stress on the first syllable—thus, contrary to some mistranslations, contrastive with , which is stressed on the final syllable). an old football ultra nickname that became his military call sign. His subordinates are reported to address him informally as "Brother Redis" or "Comrade Redis".

Biography

Since childhood, he has been involved in sports — football and martial arts. Before the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, he was an active fan and ultra-supporter of the Kyiv football club Dynamo. For him, football is of particular importance because of its discipline, team spirit, and camaraderie. Together with his wife, he enjoys outdoor activities and during his vacations he would always go to the mountains to go skiing. His personal record is 91 km/h.

He graduated from the Department of Germanic Philology at Kyiv National Linguistic University, where he earned a degree with a specialty in teaching English. He also played sports, and was a member of the far-right ''White Boys Club'' football fan (known as "ultras") organization of the football club Dynamo Kyiv.

In 2020, he entered the National Defense University of Ukraine (Command and Staff Institute for the Use of Troops), specializing in Combat Use and Control of Military Units of Mechanized and Tank Troops.

Military career

War in Donbas

From 11 July 2014 Prokopenko has participated in the war in Donbas, initially as an enlisted soldier and then as leader of a platoon and a company. In a July 2016 interview he described improvements in the military capabilities of his troops: “Although we lost a lot of experienced guys from the old squad, we've grown in quantity and quality. Discipline and combat efficiency have improved. We used to run with bobby pistols and sawn-off shots; now we have opportunities to work with tactical tank groups, armored vehicles, artillery support. We gradually developed our military science doctrine—starting with practice, not theory. In the course of training and fighting, the lads mastered tactics and small arms proficiency. Many new possibilities opened for us: we can operate independently on the frontlines, free of other subunits that constantly let us down in combat operations.” In September 2017 he was promoted to the rank of major and given control of the Azov Regiment, becoming the youngest commander in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Defence of Mariupol

Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Prokopenko recorded a video message on 7 March 2022 in which he called for closing the skies over Ukraine to help avert humanitarian collapse in Mariupol, since “the enemy is breaking the rules of the war by shelling the civilian people and destroying the infrastructure of the city; the enemy is subjecting Mariupol to another genocide.”

On 19 March 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded the title Hero of Ukraine to the commanders of two units that led the defense of Mariupol: Prokopenko and the commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, Colonel Volodymyr Baranyuk. Major Denis Prokopenko received the highest honor “for bravery, for effective tactics to repel enemy attacks, and for protection of the hero city of Mariupol.”

On 12 April 2022, Prokopenko appeared in a video message, to report on charges that Russian chemical weapons had been dropped onto Mariupol in a drone attack: “Yesterday the occupiers used a poisonous substance of unknown origin against military and civilians in Mariupol. The epicenter of the attack was not near the people, so contact with the substance was minimal, which possibly saved lives—but there are still consequences. Currently it's impossible to find out what substance poisoned people, because we are under complete blockade, and the site of the attack is under fire by the Russians to hide evidence of their crime.” Regardless of the sudden international focus on the chemical attack, he went on to claim that thousands of civilians in the city had been killed and continued to be slaughtered by constant ongoing Russian airstrikes, naval bombardment, heavy flamethrower systems, artillery, and phosphorus munitions. On 13 April 2022, it was confirmed by the official Twitter account of the Azov regiment that Prokopenko was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

On 11 May 2022, Pope Francis met in the Vatican with the wives of Azov Regiment soldiers Kateryna Prokopenko and Yulia Fedosiuk. On 16 May 2022, a social media post was released by Prokopenko stating: "In order to save lives, the entire Mariupol garrison is implementing the approved decision of the Supreme Military Command and hopes for the support of the Ukrainian people." This statement follows Russia's decision to "evacuate" wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the Azovstal plant and for them to be taken to the DPR-controlled town of Novoazovsk

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