Denys Prokopenko posted the photo of negotiations in besieged Mariupol
Source: Denys Prokopenko
On May 20, the lieutenant colonel of the National Guard of Ukraine, the commander of the 12th special brigade “Azov” Denys Prokopenko, for the first time published a photo from the negotiations during the battles for Mariupol.
The photo was taken in May, 2022, even before the defenders were ordered to leave the territory of the “Azovstal” plant.
On May 20, 2022, to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers, president Zelensky ordered to stop the defense of Mariupol and to withdraw from the territory of “Azovstal”.
As a result of difficult negotiations with the Russian side, agreements were reached regarding the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant. Thus, hundreds of people, residents of Mariupol, who found shelter in the territory of the plant, were saved.
All the civilians who were hiding from the enemy bombardment in Azovstal remained alive.The last civilian left the territory of the plant on May 7, 2022.
Even after that, the Mariupol garrison continued to defend the plant until the corresponding order of the higher command.
In 2025, the deadliest year yet for civilians, Ukraine’s three largest charitable foundations raised a record 105.9 billion hryvnias. It is more than the years 2022–2024 combined. According to the UN, humanitarian aid in Ukraine was delivered by more than 450 organisations, reaching five million people over the course of the year. Civic foundations hold licences to purchase lethal weapons, which is a function states have monopolised for centuries. These record sums were underwritten by international government grants, which means foreign states now channel billions directly through Ukrainian civic funds, bypassing inter-state channels. It is hard to imagine a stronger institutional trust in civil society.
During the GLOBSEC Defence Forum 2026 in Prague, representatives of “Steel Front”, an initiative by Rinat Akhmetov, discussed with NATO delegations, military officials, and representatives of the European defense industry the lessons learned from Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
After the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine witnessed an unprecedented wave of private support for the army. Citizens, big businesses, charitable foundations, and international philanthropists began financing the country’s defense alongside state assistance provided by international partners. Estimates of total private contributions range from tens to hundreds of billions of hryvnias. However, determining the exact amount remains difficult. In many cases, companies combine military aid, humanitarian programs, tax payments, social spending, and employee support in their reporting.
Rinat Akhmetov’s military initiative, “Steel Front”, has delivered a batch of drones worth UAH 214 million to the 1st “Azov” Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine. This shipment is part of the Metinvest Group’s ongoing support for the unit in 2025.
On October 6, the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court of Ukraine continued hearing case No. 990/80/25, in which the fifth President and leader of the party “European Solidarity”, Petro Poroshenko, seeks to have Presidential Decree No. 81/2025 from February 12, 2025 — enacting sanctions by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) — declared illegal and annulled. The plaintiff claims the document was falsified and that the sanctions are a tool of political persecution of the opposition, contrary to international norms. Government representatives deny the allegations and insist their actions were lawful. Journalists of Bukvy were present at the hearing.