The 21st Separate Guards Red Banner

Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...

- Novobug Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Motorized Rifle Brigade, or simply the 21st Guards Motor Rifle Brigade was a formation of the

Russian Ground Forces The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

based in

Orenburg Oblast Orenburg Oblast (also Orenburzhye) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), mainly located in Eastern Europe. Its administrative center is the city of Orenburg. From 1938 to 1957, it bore the name Chkalov Oblast in honor of Valery Chkal ...

. It was formed on 1 June 2009 from the

27th Guards Motor Rifle Division The 27th Guards Omsk-Novobug Red Banner Order of Bogdan Khmelnitskiy Motor Rifle Division (; Military Unit Number 35100)Michael Holm27th Guards Motorised Rifle Division/ref> is a Guards mechanised infantry division of the Russian Ground Force ...

as a result of the

2008 Russian military reform The 2008 Russian military reform (), often referred to as the Serdyukov reform () after its originator, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, was a major structural reorganisation of the Russian Armed Forces that began in 2009. Significant refo ...

. In 2014, the brigade was involved in the

Russian military intervention in Ukraine The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia occupied and annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then supported Russian paramilitaries who began a war in the eastern Donbas re ...

. In the spring of 2024, the 27th Guards Motorized Rifle Division was revived and 21st Brigade disbanded.

History

In August 2014, the brigade's units fought in the

Battle of Ilovaisk The Battle of Ilovaisk started on 7 August 2014, when the Armed Forces of Ukraine and pro-Ukrainian paramilitaries began a series of attempts to capture the city of Ilovaisk from pro-Russian insurgents affiliated with the Donetsk People's Rep ...

. On 29 August, during a Ukrainian breakthrough attempt from

Ilovaisk Ilovaisk (, ; ) is a city in Donetsk Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine; residence of Ilovaisk urban hromada. The city is ''de facto'' annexed by Russia and administered by the Donetsk People's Republic. The city is known as a major regional ra ...

, a "northern" column of Ukrainian forces took the fight with 21st brigade's troops on a road between Voznesenka and Horbatenko villages. A Ukrainian

T-64 The T-64 is a Soviet tank manufactured in Kharkiv, and designed by Alexander Morozov. The tank was introduced in the early 1960s. It was a more advanced counterpart to the T-62: the T-64 served in tank divisions, while the T-62 supported i ...

tank and several

BMP-2 The BMP-2 (''Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty'', , literally "combat machine/vehicle f theinfantry") is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s. Development his ...

s of 51st Mechanized Brigade were able to destroy two T-72BA tanks and a

of the 21st Motor Rifle Brigade. Another 21st brigade's T-72BA tank was destroyed near Kumachove village, presumably by a Tochka-U missile strike of the 19th Missile Brigade. A Ukrainian Headquarters briefing held on 11 March 2015 noted the 21st Motor Rifle Brigade units are operating near

Yenakiieve Yenakiieve (, ; ) is a city and the nominal administrative center of Yenakiieve urban hromada in the Horlivka Raion, Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine. The city stands on the Krynka River about from the oblast's administrative center, Donetsk. Its po ...

, Ukraine. Bodies of soldiers, reportedly from the division, which were killed in the

2022 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 ...

near were among six that were to be swapped for two captured Ukrainian soldiers in an exchange in March 2022.

2024

Becoming 27th Motor Rifle Division as of April 2024, consisting of: * 433rd Motor Rifle Regiment, * 506th Motor Rifle Regiment, * 589th Motor Rifle Regiment, * 268th self-propelled artillery regiment, * 1107th separate anti-tank artillery division, * 838th separate anti-aircraft missile division, * 907th separate reconnaissance battalion, * 1614th separate engineer battalion, * 834th separate communications battalion, * 140th separate logistics battalion, * 341st separate medical battalion

Commanders

* Colonel Andrey Sergeevich TRIFONOV

References

{{Brigades of the Russian Ground Forces Military units and formations disestablished in 2024 2024 disestablishments in Russia Mechanised infantry brigades of Russia Military units and formations established in 2009 Military units and formations of Russia in the war in Donbas Military units and formations of Russia in the Russian invasion of Ukraine