TEHRAN- A delegation representing the controversial Ukrainian armed Avoz unit, known for its far-right neo-Nazi views has visited Israel.

The extremist delegation held meetings with Israeli officials as well as Israeli soldiers and reservists, who had fought for Kyiv in the Ukraine war.

It met with reservists from the Israeli occupation forces during the visit, including one Israeli settler originally from the Luhansk region of Eastern Ukraine and another from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. 

The delegation spoke with the soldiers about similarities in serving with the Azov regiment as well as in the Israeli occupation forces and the similarities and differences between the militaries of Ukraine and Israel.

The delegation is said to have arrived in occupied Palestinian territories on Thursday and was led by an Azov officer.

Joining the officer in leading the delegation to Israeli-occupied Palestine was Yuliya Fedosyuk, the deputy head of the Association of Azovstal Defenders' Families.

The visit was initiated by the Israeli Friends of Ukraine organization with the support of the Ukrainian Embassy in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Nadav Foundation.

The leading Ukrainian Azov officer is reported to have discussed battles between Russia and Ukraine in Mariupol. 

The Azov delegation further participated in screenings of a documentary about the battle for Mariupol, while also discussing similarities between the Israeli and Ukrainian Azov members.

The representatives have also traveled to the occupied Palestinian territories to advocate for members of the Azov Regiment and to reportedly counter Russian reports and statements about the ongoing war.

The Azov delegation also spoke about Ukrainian soldiers who are reportedly still being held by Russia.

Anna Zharova, a founder of Israeli Friends of Ukraine, called the delegation's visit the organization's "most important project since the beginning of the [Ukraine] war."

In May, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed what she said was "Israeli mercenaries [who] are actually fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the Azov militants.” 

Critics including Russian officials have accused Israel of supporting a "neo-Nazi regime" in Kyiv.

Since the start of the war in February, Russia has further alienated itself from Israel, as further reports surfaced of Israeli mercenaries fighting alongside the Ukrainian army.

A row also broke out between Russia and Israel over Moscow’s statements that it is seeking to “de-Nazify” its neighbor through what the Kremlin described as its "special military operation" in Ukraine, which it launched in February 2022.

Russia has strongly criticized the Azov battalion, which had fought in Mariupol and has far-Right links, as a neo-Nazi group.

“How are we supposed to feel about it?” Zakharova told state-owned Sputnik Radio, saying that she had seen “videos and evidence” to back up her statements. 

Azov rose to prominence in 2014, when its far-right activists took up arms to fight pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region but they have since fallen under the command of Ukraine’s military.

They have been fighting alongside the Ukrainian army against Russian troops, who on February 24 launched a military campaign in the pro-NATO country.

There are no exact figures on how many Israelis are fighting with the Azov unit but they are estimated to be hundreds of Israeli volunteers in Ukraine.

The Azov Battalion is a far-right regiment within Ukraine’s National Guard, and the unit is affiliated with neo-Nazi elements. 

The group was previously a paramilitary organization before it was officially incorporated into Ukraine’s armed forces back in 2014.

The Azovs have been doing much of the frontline fighting in Ukraine's war with pro-Russia separatists or ethnic Russians in the country's east.

But there are increasing concerns that while the Azov battalion might be a potent and reliable force for Ukraine on the battlefield against the separatists, analysts say they also pose the most serious threat to the state of Ukraine when the conflict is over. 

This comes as the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War announced another exchange with Russia. 32 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the body of a deceased Israeli have been returned home.

The news has been announced by the official social media channel of the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

"As part of the work of the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, it was possible to free 32 defenders from captivity. Three of them are officers, 28 people are soldiers, and one is a sailor," the statement said.

The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrii Yermak also announced that the body of an Israeli by the name of Dmytro Fialka has been transferred to Ukraine as part of the latest exchange of Prisoners of War.

Fialka had been fighting among Ukrainian forces against the Russian military. 

According to media reports, he died at the beginning of September.

Earlier this year another prisoner-of-war exchange involved Israelis on a list that included diplomats, consular employees, and embassy security guards who helped Israelis in fleeing Ukraine.

A Kremlin-linked social media channel said that ten Israeli officials who worked on the Ukraine-Poland border were mercenaries, publishing their names and passport details.

The Israelis on the list included diplomats, consular employees, and embassy security guards, among others who helped provide assistance to Israelis that had fled Ukraine over its border with Poland after the war erupted.

“I’ll say something that the politicians in Israel who are now inflating their information campaign are unlikely to want to hear,” Zakharova said in an interview with Sputnik Radio. “Perhaps they will be interested. In Ukraine, Israeli mercenaries are actually shoulder-to-shoulder with the Azov militants and Israel is certainly aware of this."

The Azovs cause particular concern because of the far-right, neo-Nazi, leanings of its members.

The Azov unit was led by Andriy Biletsky, who served as the leader of both the Patriot of Ukraine (founded in 2005) and the SNA (founded in 2008).  

The SNA is known to have carried out attacks on minority groups in Ukraine.

In 2010, Biletsky said Ukraine’s national purpose was to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade … against inferior races”.

In 2015, Andriy Diachenko, the spokesperson for the regiment at the time said that 10 to 20 percent of Azov’s recruits identified themselves as Nazis.

While some Azovs have denied their adherence to Nazi ideology as a whole, Nazi symbols such as the swastika and SS regalia have been seen widely on the uniforms and bodies of Azov members.

In 2019, a piece by the Nation news outlet reported that the unit's dark ideology was not coming out of Moscow.

"They’re being filed by Western media, including U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kyiv is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity," it said.

Ukraine is the world’s only nation to have a neo-Nazi formation in its armed forces.

With more reports emerging lately; that have found many of the regiment's members hold disturbing political and ideological views, especially toward Nazis and Adolf Hitler, experts believe almost all of the members appear intent on taking the fight to Kyiv when the war is over.

In other words, overthrowing the current government in Ukraine with one of their own. The far-right neo-Nazi group has not only expanded to be part of Ukraine's armed forces but is also a street militia and has a political wing.

As well as their neo-Nazi views, they also have a white supremacist ideology.

This may explain why they feel so comfortable being hosted in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

Two entities with the same ideology.