US lifts weapons ban on a high-profile Ukrainian military unit with a checkered past

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The U.S. State Department has removed restrictions on the transfer of American weapons and training to a high-profile Ukrainian military unit with a checkered past. The State Department said on Tuesday the Azov Brigade passed a vetting process that found it had not committed any gross human rights violations. The move will help the Azov Brigade, among Ukraine’s most effective and popular, move beyond its reputation as a far right movement, a perception its commanders have been trying to dispel as Russian propaganda. Moscow has repeatedly portrayed the Azov as a Nazi group and accused it of atrocities, but given no evidence.