The 223rd Anti-aircraft Missile Regiment "

Ukrainian Sich Riflemen Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (; ) was a Ukrainian unit within the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War. Scope The unit was formed in August 1914 on the initiative of the Supreme Ukrainian Council. It was composed of members o ...

" formerly the 223rd Anti-aircraft Missile Regiment

Order of Alexander Nevsky The Order of Alexander Nevsky () is an Order (distinction), order of merit of the Russia, Russian Federation named in honour of saint Alexander Nevsky (1220–1263) and bestowed to civil servants for twenty years or more of highly meritorious ser ...

Terebovlia Terebovlia (, ; ; ) is a small city in Ternopil Raion, Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. Terebovlia hosts the administration of Terebovlia urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 13,661 (2001). History Terebovlia is one of ...

nska" is a regiment of the

Ukrainian Air Force The Ukrainian Air Force (, PS ZSU) is the air force of Ukraine and one of the eight Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (ZSU). Its current form was created in 2004 by merging the Ukrainian Air Defence Forces into the Air Fo ...

tasked with

air defense Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...

operations. It operates Buk M1 missile systems and is subordinated to the

Air Command West The Air Command West is the military unit of the Ukrainian Air Force located in the western part of Ukraine. History In the course of reforming the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2004, the Air Command "West" with headquarters in Lviv was created o ...

. It is headquartered at

Stryi Stryi (, ; ) is a city in Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located in the left bank of the Stryi (river), Stryi River, approximately south of Lviv in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. It serves as the administrative center of Stryi R ...

History

In January 1992, following the

Dissolution of the Soviet union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, the personnel of the 223rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the 38th Combined Arms Army took an oath of loyalty to

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 ...

. On March 16, 1998, the 223rd brigade was given the honorary name "

nska". The 223rd Anti-aircraft Missile Regiment was stationed in

Ternopil Oblast Ternopil Oblast (), also referred to as Ternopilshchyna () or Ternopillia (), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its Capital (political), administrative center is Ternopil, through which flows the Seret (river), Seret, a tribu ...

till 2004 when it was relocated to

Lviv Oblast Lviv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. The capital city, capital of the oblast is the city of Lviv. The current population is History Name The region is named ...

at the base of the disbanded 25th Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade. The regiment participated in 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 ...

. The regiment's personnel saw combat near Hranitne and on 10 October 2018, a soldier of the regiment (Roman Volodymyrovych Magas) was killed as a result of a mine detonation. In November 2018, the 223rd regiment's Buk M1 systems took part in a firing competition in

Kherson Oblast Kherson Oblast (, ; ), also known as Khersonshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in southern Ukraine. It is located just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson, on the northern or right bank ...

with two systems securing the 1st and 2nd places in the competition for which they were awarded 150k and 90k

hyrvnia The ( ; , ''hrn''; sign: ₴; code: UAH) has been the national currency of Ukraine since 2 September 1996. The hryvnia is divided into 100 kopiykas (). It is named after a measure of weight used in Kievan Rus'. Etymology The currency of Kie ...

s respectively and the regiment was considered the best On 23 August 2021, the regiment was awarded the honorary title "

" after the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, a unit of the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...

that saw combat during the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and later the

Polish–Ukrainian War The Polish–Ukrainian War, from November 1918 to July 1919, was a conflict between the Second Polish Republic and Ukrainian forces (both the West Ukrainian People's Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic). The conflict had its roots in ...

as a part of

Ukrainian People's Army The Ukrainian People's Army (), also known as the Ukrainian National Army (UNA) or by the derogatory term Petliurivtsi (, ), was the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1921). They were often quickly reorganized units of the former I ...

. During 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 ...

, the regiment was deployed for combat operations. On 23 April 2022, the regiment was officially granted a new insignia. The regiment took part in the

Eastern Ukraine campaign Ukraine's easternmost oblasts, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv, have been the site of an ongoing theatre of operation since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The battle of Donbas was a major offensive in the easter ...

with a soldier of the regiment (Nazar Shved) being killed near Kamainka on 9 May 2022. On 15 June 2022, the regiment was awarded the honorary award "

For Courage and Bravery For Courage and Bravery () is an honorary award established by the President of Ukraine to recognize distinguished combat performance, courage, bravery and heroism of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, National Guard of Ukraine, State Border ...

". The regiment took part in the

Battle of Sumy On 24 February 2022, the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a military engagement took place in the city of Sumy, located near the Russia–Ukraine border. Ukrainian paratroopers and territorial defense forces began engaging Russian ...

during which on 15 August 15, 2024 a soldier of the regiment (Dmytro Orestovych Yatsyshin) was killed in a Russian rocket attack on the city.

Structure

The structure of the regiment is as follows: * 553rd Separate Anti-aircraft Missile Division * 554th Separate Anti-aircraft Missile Division * 556th Separate Anti-aircraft Missile Division

Commanders

* Colonel Serhii Butrymovych (2008–2014) * Colonel Oleksiy Tsukanov (2014–2018) * Colonel Velichko Ivan Mykhailovych (2018-)

Sources

Військова частина Львівщини вважає, що «ордена Олександра Невського» — це почесно

Військові Стрийського зенітного ракетного полку відзначили 75-річчя з дня формування частини

References

{{Reflist Air force regiments of Ukraine Military units and formations of Ukraine in the war in Donbas Military units and formations of Ukraine in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Military units and formations established in 1992 Air defence regiments