The history of the Azov Battalion based on the materials of the Azov Battalion Archive of unregulated documentation (May-September 2014)

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The aim of the publication is to build a general scheme of the history of the Azov Volunteer Battalion, using the contents of the Azov Battalion Archive of unregulated documentation in general and internal battalion orders in particular. The research methodology involves the application of the principles of historicism, the usage of studying whole historical sources and being objective. Descriptive method, methods of classification and systematization as well as methods of analysis and synthesis have been used. The source base of the study is based on internal battalion orders and other materials of the archive of unregulated documentation of the Azov Battalion. The scientific novelty is conditioned by the high source value of the materials of the Azov Battalion Archive, which are currently completely unexplored within the academic science; these materials are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The conclusions of the study are the construction the general scheme of a history of the Azov Volunteer Battalion from the establishment of the unit on May 5, 2014 on the basis of the training and mobilization center "Cossack Legion" in the actually squatted building in the center of the Ukrainian capital to expand the unit to the regiment of September 17, 2014. Important milestones in the battalion's history are the redeployment of the unit from Kyiv to the Azov coast, participation in hostilities in the summer and autumn of 2014, including the liberation of Mariupol on June 13 and Mar’inka on August 4, and participation in the Ilovaysk operation in August and the defense of Mariupol in early September of that year.