ARMY of UKRAINE UKRAINIAN BATTALION UNIT AZOV KHARKIV KRAKEN REGIMENT TACTICAL MORALE PATCH

ARMY of UKRAINE UKRAINIAN BATTALION UNIT AZOV KHARKIV KRAKEN REGIMENT

  Condition - new, unused.

The Kraken unit was formed by Azov Battalion veterans on the day Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February,  That makes the Krakens something like a kid brother to the older Azov unit, whose fighters achieved world renown status last month for their epic last stand inside Azovstal, a sprawling steel complex in the port city of Mariupol.

Like the Azov fighters, whose name comes from the Sea of Azov, the regiment’s name and insignia evoke a different maritime theme: the kraken, a mythical sea monster resembling a giant squid.

The Azov Special Operations Detachment (Ukrainian: Окремий загін спеціального призначення «Азов», romanized: Okremyi zahin spetsialnoho pryznachennia "Azov"), also known as the Azov Regiment (Ukrainian: Полк Азов, romanized: Polk Azov) or Azov Battalion until September 2014, is a unit of the National Guard of Ukraine based in Mariupol in the coastal region of the Sea of Azov. Azov formed as a volunteer paramilitary militia in May 2014, and has since been fighting Russian forces in the Donbas War. It first saw combat recapturing Mariupol from Russian forces and pro-Russian separatists in June 2014. It initially operated as a volunteer police company, until it was formally incorporated into the National Guard on 11 November 2014. In the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the battalion gained renewed attention for its use by Russia in justifying the invasion and during the Siege of Mariupol for its role in the defense of the city.