93rd Mechanized Brigade (Ukraine)

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Southern Group of Forces in Hungary during the last years of the Cold War,[3] and after the fall of the Berlin Wall was withdrawn to Ukraine from October 1990 to January 1991.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.

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
    • Headquarters & Target Acquisition Battery
    • Self-propelled Artillery Battalion (2S3 Akatsiya)
    • Self-propelled Artillery Battalion (2S1 Gvozdika)
    • Rocket Artillery Battalion (BM-21 Grad)
    • Anti-tank Artillery Battalion (MT-12 Rapira)
  • 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

• 19?? received the Guards designation.
• 19?? received the Order of the Red Banner
• 19?? received the honorable name «Kharkiv»
• 19?? received the Order of Suvorov
• 19?? received the Order of Kutuzov[21]
• On December 10, 2007 received its Colour[22]
• 2018 received "Kholodnyi Yar" honorific