Lieutenant Colonel Bohdan "Puhach" Hryshenkov has been appointed the new commander of the 12th Azov Special Forces Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU).

Source: Azov Brigade on Instagram

Quote: "Friend Puhach is a professional soldier with nearly a decade of service in Azov. He has risen through the ranks – from an ordinary soldier to company commander, chief of staff and battalion commander.

The new brigade commander takes over the brigade at the moment of its greatest development. He'll do his best to ensure the unit's effective work in cooperation with other brigades of the 1st Azov Corps of the NGU."

For reference:  Hryshenkov, 31, was born in the town of Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast and joined Azov in 2015.

During the defence of Mariupol in 2022, he commanded one of Azov's companies and was wounded. After leaving the Azovstal Steelworks, he was captured and held by the Russians in the Olenivka penal colony in the temporarily occupied part of Donetsk Oblast. When the Russians blew up a barracks in Olenivka, Puhach sustained shrapnel wounds and lost two toes on his foot.

Following his release from captivity and subsequent rehabilitation, Hryshenkov returned to the front, taking part in battles in the Serebrianka Forest and on the Toretsk front.

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