93rd Mechanized Brigade (Ukraine)

The 93rd Mechanized Brigade is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. The full name of the Brigade is the 93rd Independent Kholodnyi Yar Mechanized Brigade.

93rd Independent Kholodnyi Yar Mechanized Brigade
Patch of the 93rd Mechanized Brigade
Active1943–present
CountryUkraine
BranchUkrainian Ground Forces
TypeMechanized Brigade
Part ofOperational Command East
Garrison/HQCherkaske Dnipropetrovsk Oblast[1] Ukraine
Motto(s)Nunquam Retrorsum
Never Forgotten)
Colours
EngagementsWar in Donbass
Decorations Order of the Red Banner (2) (removed)

 Order of Suvorov (removed)

 Order of Kutuzov (removed)
Battle honoursKharkiv (removed)

Kholodnyy Yar[nb 1]
Commanders
Current
commander
Colonel Vladislav Klochkov
Notable
commanders
Oleh Mikats

History

The Brigade traces its history back to the 93rd Guards Rifle Division of the Soviet Union's Red Army, formed at Valuki in April 1943 from 13th Guards and 92nd Rifle Brigades. The Division fought at Kursk, Kharkiv, Budapest, and Prague, and was serving with the 53rd Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front in May 1945.[2] After a period as a 35th Guards Mechanized Division, and then 35th Guards Motor Rifle Division 1957-65, the Division was redesignated as the 93rd Guards Motor Rifle Division in 1965. It served with the Southern Group of Forces in Hungary during the last years of the Cold War,[3] and after the fall of the Berlin Wall was withdrawn to Ukraine from October 1990 to January 1991.

There it became part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In Decree 925/96(?), Colonel Anatoly Savatiovich Pushnyakov, Commander of the 93rd Mechanised Division of the 6th Army Corps, Southern Operational Command, Ukrainian Ground Forces, was promoted to General-Major.

The division appears to have been redesignated a brigade after 1996 and after 1999.

Throughout 1999, the '93rd Motor Rifle Division' conducted a series of small unit and staff officer exchanges with the 40th Infantry Division of the California Army National Guard.[4]

On December 10, 2007 the Brigade received its Colour by the order of the President of Ukraine.

The brigade fought in the War in Donbass, defending Donetsk International Airport during the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport alongside the 95th Airmobile Brigade.[5]

The brigade is currently based in Krasnoarmiisk.[6] On 18 November 2015 its honorifics "Twice Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov" were removed as part of an Armed Forces-wide removal of Soviet awards and honorifics, but not its Kharkiv battle honor,[7] given as a result of its participation in the 1943 Belgorod-Khar'kov Offensive Operation. On 22 August 2016, its Guards title was also removed.[8]

In honor of the centennial year of the Ukrainian War of Independence the brigade received its second honorific title, Kholodnyi Yar (Kholodnyi Yar was a pro-Ukrainian partisan self-proclaimed state that existed from 1919 to 1922), in 2018, and thus its Kharkiv battle honour was officially removed from the full title of the unit.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] A new colour was also received by the brigade command which differs from the maroon colour it received in 2007.

The Donbass War

The brigade was deployed in the War in Donbass against the Russian army and its proxy forces. The unit fought on the frontlines from 2014-2016 before being recalled in March 2016. During this period, 138 soldiers were killed in action, over 1,000 were wounded, and 9 soldiers were held as prisoners of war.[16]

The brigade returned to the frontline. On 19 July 2016 an IFV of the brigade detonated an IED, killing two soldiers.[17]

In June 2017 the brigade moved deeper into the no man's land near the village of Krymske and set up fortifications there "to exert stricter fire control over the enemy, and provides for a better defense."[18]

Brigade Order of Battle

1997

  • Division Command and Staff
  • Guards Company
  • 110th Mechanized Regiment
  • 529th Mechanized Regiment
  • 87th Armoured Regiment
  • Command and Artillery Reconnaissance Company
  • 198th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment
  • 446th Anti-Tank Artillery Battalion
  • 1039th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment
  • 108th Combat Engineer Battalion
  • 166th Signal Battalion
  • 1119th Logistics Battalion
  • 16th Reconnaissance Battalion
  • 35th Electronic Warfare Company
  • 73rd Repair and Recovery Battalion
  • 89th Medical Battalion
  • 133rd Chemical Battalion
  • 16th Training Area[19]
  • Military Band

2007

  • 1st Mechanized Battalion[20]
  • 2nd Mechanized Battalion
  • 3rd Mechanized Battalion
  • Armored Battalion

Current Structure

As of 2017 the brigade's structure is as follows:

  • 93rd Mechanized Brigade, Cherkaske
    • Headquarters & Headquarters Company
    • 1st Mechanized Battalion
    • 2nd Mechanized Battalion
    • 3rd Mechanized Battalion
    • Tank Battalion
    • 20th Motorized Infantry Battalion "Dnipro"
    • Brigade Artillery Group
    • Anti-Aircraft Missile Artillery Battalion
    • Engineer Battalion
    • Maintenance Battalion
    • Logistic Battalion
    • Reconnaissance Company
    • Sniper Company
    • Electronic Warfare Company
    • Signal Company
    • Radar Company
    • CBRN-defense Company
    • Medical Company
    • Military Band

Awards

Notes

  1. Kholodnyi Yar was not the place of a battle but a pro-Ukrainian partisan self-proclaimed state that existed from 1919 to 1922.

References

  1. Новини Управління Прес-служби МО
  2. Poirer and Connor, Red Army Order of Battle
  3. Michael Holm/V.I.Feskov et al., 93rd Guards Motorised Rifle Division, 2015.
  4. Globalsecurity.org, Ukrainian National Guard
  5. "Полоненого "кіборга" побили "мирні" жителі Донецька" [Cyborg brigades beat "peaceful" Donetsk inhabitants]. Ukrainian National Information Agency News (UNN). All online daily news in Ukraine today - fresh, recent, major. Retrieved 2016-01-09.
  6. Barnes, Julian E. "Kiev's Calls for Restraint Frustrate Ukraine's Front-Line Fighters". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 22 February 2016. Retrieved 2016-02-24.
  7. "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №646/2015" [Ukaz President of Ukraine No. 646/2015] (in Ukrainian). President of Ukraine. 21 November 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  8. "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №344/2016" [Ukaz of the President of Ukraine No. 344/2016] (in Ukrainian). President of Ukraine. 22 August 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  9. "93-я окрема механізована бригада ЗС України отримає почесне ім'я "Холодний Яр"". www.ukrmilitary.com/. Ukrainian Military Pages. 2018-01-22. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  10. "93-тя окрема механізована бригада ЗСУ отримає почесне найменування "Холодний Яр"". procherk.info/. Прочерк. 2018-01-22. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  11. ""Холодний Яр": почесна назва 93 бригади". mil.in.ua. Український мілітарний портал. 2018-01-22. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  12. "93-тя бригада ЗСУ отримає почесне найменування "Холодний Яр", нові нарукавні знаки та бойове знамено". tsn.ua/. ТСН. 2018-01-22. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  13. 93 ОМБр ЗСУ стане Холодноярською. ФОТО // Військовий навігатор України
  14. "Королівська піхота і танковий кулак: як змінюють символи армії України". www.bbc.com/. BBC. 2017-11-14. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  15. "Почесні стяги поруч з бойовими. ССО і бригада короля Данила отримали "брендову" символіку". novynarnia.com. Новинарня. 2017-10-15. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  16. "Ukrainian infantry brigade returns home after nearly two years on the frontline". Ukraine Today. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
  17. "Donbas death toll rises: Ukraine reports 7 KIA, 14 WIA in 24 hours". UNIAN. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  18. Ukrainian combat units advance near frontline town of Krymske, Kyiv Post (2 June 2017)
  19. "Новини Управління Прес-служби МО". Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  20. Новини Управління Прес-служби МО
  21. President.Gov.Ua> Archived August 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  22. Новини Управління Прес-служби МО
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