The 129th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion is a battalion of the

Ukrainian ground forces The Ukrainian Ground Forces (SVZSU, ), also referred to as the Ukrainian army, is a land force, and one of the eight Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was formed from Ukrainian units of the Soviet Army after Declaratio ...

acting as an independent unit subordinated directly to the

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 ...

and has seen combat during both the

War in Donbass The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war began in April 2014, when Russian paramilitaries seized several towns. Ukraine's military launched an operation ...

and the

Russian Invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, performing reconnaissance and combat operations throughout the entire front.

History

It was established by the Mariupol United City Military Commissariat of Donetsk Region with its completion being set for 29 December 2014 in accordance with the joint directive of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine dated 25 November 2014, initially by

Operational Command South The Operational Command South ( OC South, ) is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces in the southern part of Ukraine, which was formed in January 1998 as the Southern Operation Command on the basis of the Odesa Military District and was headq ...

and later transferred to

. It was trained by foreign specialists including the head of Georgian military intelligence. Following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, it saw comabt. On 22 July 2022, a soldier of the battalion, Pepryk Roman Olegovich was killed during a rocket attack near

Apostolove Apostolove (, ; ) is a city in Kryvyi Rih Raion, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Apostolove urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: In 2001, the population was 16,439. Until the raion was abol ...

. It has been working in coordination with the

Main Directorate of Intelligence (Ukraine) The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (), also known in English as the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), is the military intelligence service of the Ukrainian government. It is an agency of the Minist ...

. Most activities of the Battalion are kept secret.

Structure

The structure of the battalion is as follows:129th Reconnaissance Battalion
/ref> * Management & Headquarters * 1st Reconnaissance Company *2nd Reconnaissance Company * Long Range Reconnaissance Company * UAV Reconnaissance Companu * Fire Support Company * Maintenance Platoon * Logistics Platoon * Commandant Platoon * Medical Center

References

{{Ukrainian Ground Forces Military units and formations established in 1992 Ministry of Defence (Ukraine) Special forces of Ukraine Battalions of Ukraine Military units and formations of Ukraine in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Military units and formations of Ukraine in the war in Donbas