The 113th Territorial Defense Brigade () is a military formation of the Territorial Defense Forces of

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the w ...

. It is part of

Operational Command East The Operational Command East ( OC East, ) is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces in eastern Ukraine. Its headquarters is currently located in Dnipro. History When Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, there were three ...

History

Formation

On 28 August 2018, the brigade was formed in

. In first days brigade numbered twenty-seven people. Ten were assigned to headquarters and two in each of the five battalions. For the next ten days close to twenty-one hundred reservists and three hundred officers foot part in exercises culminating with close to thirty percent of them signing contracts with the brigade. Colonel Ihor Kiforenko became the first commander.

Russo-Ukrainian War

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

At the end of January 2022 the brigade had six battalions, 120-125 requiring less than ten percent to be fully manned. A new law that took effect on 1 January allowed for two more battalions with one of them located in Kharkiv. The brigade took part in battles for

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

and

Bakhmut Bakhmut is a city in eastern Ukraine. It is officially the administrative center of Bakhmut urban hromada and Bakhmut Raion in Donetsk Oblast. The city is located on the Bakhmutka River, about north of Donetsk, the administrative center ...

. On 10 September 2022, Ukrainian president

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

announced that the 113th Territorial Defense Brigade was responsible for capturing the villages of and during a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the

. According to Gerasim Gevorgian, commander of the brigade's 120th Battalion, the brigade captured about fifty settlements in total during this offensive. The Chuhuiv Battalion of the 113rd Brigade was involved in the counteroffensive, taking part in combat near Vasylenkove, and advancing for five days until reaching the Russia-Ukraine border near

Vovchansk Vovchansk (, ; ) is a destroyed city in Chuhuiv Raion, Kharkiv Oblast, northeastern Ukraine. It hosts the administration of . The Vovcha river, a tributary of the Donets river, runs through the city. Vovchansk had a population of However, th ...

. Many members of the battalion were locals and had relatives living in the areas which they recaptured.

Structure

As of 2022 the brigade's structure is as follows: * Headquarters * 120ter

120th Territorial Defense Battalion (

Derhachi Derhachi (, ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city in Kharkiv Raion, Kharkiv Oblast, eastern Ukraine. The town is northwest of the administrative center of the oblast, Kharkiv. The settlement was founded in the second half of the 17th century a ...

) А7286 *

121st Territorial Defense Battalion (

Zmiiv Zmiiv or Zmiyiv () from 1976 to 1990, is a city in Chuhuiv Raion, Kharkiv, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Zmiiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The population in 2001 was 17,063, falling to The town is located from Khar ...

) А7287 * 122nd Territorial Defense Battalion (

Izium Izium or Izyum (, ; ) is a city on the Donets River in Kharkiv Oblast, eastern Ukraine that serves as the administrative center of Izium Raion and Izium urban hromada. It is about southeast of the city of Kharkiv, the oblast's administrative cen ...

) А7288 *

123rd Territorial Defense Battalion (

Kupiansk Kupiansk or Kupyansk (, ; , ) is a city in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Kupiansk Raion. It is also an important railroad junction for the oblast. Kupiansk hosts the administration of Kupiansk urban hromada, ...

) А7289 *

124th Territorial Defense Battalion (

Lozova Lozova (, ) or Lozovaya () is a city in Kharkiv Oblast, eastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Lozova Raion. Lozova hosts the administration of Lozova urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: Lozova is th ...

) А7290 *

125th Territorial Defense Battalion (

Chuhuiv Chuhuiv () or Chuguev () is a city in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. The city is the Capital (political), administrative center of Chuhuiv Raion (district). It hosts the administration of Chuhuiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population ...

) А7291 *

209th Territorial Defense Battalion (

Bohodukhiv left Bohodukhiv ( ; ) is a city in Kharkiv Oblast, eastern Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of Bohodukhiv Raion. Bohodukhiv hosts the administration of Bohodukhiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Current population: Hist ...

) А7378 * Engineering Company * Communication Company * Logistics Company * Mortar Battery

Commanders

* Lieutenant Colonel Ihor Kiforenko 2018–2020 * Lieutenant Colonel Andrii Borodin 2020–2021 * Colonel Yevhen Zadorozhnyi 2021–present

References

{{Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces Territorial defense Brigades of Ukraine 2018 establishments in Ukraine Military units and formations established in 2018