The recent fights in Azovstal and the surrender of the paramilitaries to the Russian army, provided another opportunity to Western media to present them as heroes within the broader effort to “whitewash” the neo-Nazis of Azov Battalion. The fact that the Azov fighters are now part of the Ukrainian army do not absolve them from their Nazi ideology and the heinous crimes they have committed since 2014. According to Reuters, in 2020 the number of paramilitaries in Ukraine reached 120,000, accounting for about 40% of the country's Armed Forces. Their ranks are filled by mercenaries of various nationalities, who were equipped, trained and funded by the United States, Canada, Britain and France.