Russian-backed separatist head says Azov trial to begin this summer

FILE PHOTO: Service members of the Ukrainian armed forces are seen within the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works complex in Mariupol, Ukraine, in this handout picture taken May 7, 2022. Dmytro Orest Kozatskyi/Azov regiment press service /Handout via REUTERS

OLENIVKA, Ukraine (Reuters) - The head of the Russian-backed separatist administration in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region said on Wednesday that a trial of captured personnel from Ukraine's Azov Regiment would take place by the end of the summer, likely in the city of Mariupol.

The Azov Regiment, a unit of Ukraine's national guard with far-right and ultranationalist origins, garnered international attention for its resistance to the Russian siege of Mariupol's vast steelworks.