The 28th Mechanized Brigade () is a

mechanized brigade Armoured warfare or armored warfare (American English; see spelling differences), is the use of armoured fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a major component of modern methods of war. The premise of armored warfare rests on the abili ...

and part of the formation 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 ...

History

The original 28th Guards Rifle Division was formed during the Second World War from the

180th Rifle Division The 180th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Red Army, formed thrice. The division was first formed in September 1939 but this unit was disbanded a few months later. It was reformed in August 1940 from Estonian personnel afte ...

in May 1942. The division fought at

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

and

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

. It was with the 37th Army in Bulgaria in May 1945. During the 1980s, the then 28th Guards Motor Rifle Division was part of the

14th Guards Army The 14th Guards Combined Arms Army () was a field army of the Red Army, the Soviet Ground Forces, and the Russian Ground Forces, active from 1956 to 1995. By the 1990s, according to sources within the 14th Army, the majority of its troops came fro ...

headquartered at

Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ; formerly known as Kishinev) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Moldova, largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the coun ...

, in the

Moldavian SSR The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic or Moldavian SSR (, mo-Cyrl, Република Советикэ Сочиалистэ Молдовеняскэ), also known as the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldovan SSR, Soviet Moldavia, Sovie ...

(

Odesa Military District The Odessa Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military administrative division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This district consisted of Moldavia and five Ukrainian oblasts of Odesa (then spelled ''Odessa''), Mykolaiv, Kherson, Crimea an ...

). After

the fall 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 Nationalities, Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. :s: ...

it became part of the reorganised Ukrainian 6th Army Corps. After the 6th Army Corps was disbanded in 2013, the brigade became part of

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 ...

. The brigade fought in the

war in Donbas 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 Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

. On 22 August 2016, its Guards title was removed. On 22 August 2019 by decree of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Volodymyr Zelensky 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 ...

the official name of the brigade became: 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Knights of the

First Winter Campaign The First Winter Campaign ( Ukrainian: ''Перший Зимовий Похід;'' 6 December 1919 — 6 May 1920) was a campaign by the Ukrainian People's Republic against the Bolsheviks in Ukraine during the Soviet-Ukrainian War. The main tas ...

Russian invasion of Ukraine

The brigade is taking part in the defense of Ukraine during 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 ...

, primarily on the southern front. According to the chairman of the Public Council at the Odesa Regional State Administration Serhiy Bratchuk, the Russians tried to plant a maritime and air landing in on the Black Sea coast of the Mykolaiv area. As a result of the brigade, the Russians' attempt to plant a landing was stopped, and they enemy retreated, losing up to 25 soldiers. Two more saboteurs were detained in the village of Kobleve. After the defense of Kobleve, the 28th Brigade took part in the defense of Voznesensk. The brigade defended the Oleksandrivka and Posad-Pokrovske sectors of the front line between

Kherson Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...

and

Mykolaiv Mykolaiv ( ), also known as Nikolaev ( ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and a hromada (municipality) in southern Ukraine. Mykolaiv is the Administrative centre, administrative center of Mykolaiv Raion (Raions of Ukraine, district) and Myk ...

throughout 2022. On July 23, 2022, the commander of the brigade,

Vitaliy Gulyaev Vitalii Anatoliiovych Huliaiev (; 26 May 1978 — 23 July 2022) was a Ukrainian military officer. He served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, rising to the rank of colonel, and serving as commander of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade between ...

, was killed in Mykolaiv region. On 10 November, the 28th Brigade reportedly captured

Kyselivka Kyselivka (, ) is a village (selo) of Ukraine, in Chornobaivka rural hromada, Kherson Raion, Kherson Oblast. History The village was affected by the Holodomor, in which an estimated 24 inhabitants of the village died. Due to resistance to coll ...

. Two days later, on the 12th of November, elements of the brigade were seen entering

as part of the liberation of the city during the southern offensive. Elements of the brigade were also present in the

battle of Bakhmut The battle of Bakhmut was a major battle between the Russian Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukrainian Armed Forces for control of the city of Bakhmut, during the eastern Ukraine campaign, a theatre of the Russian invasion of Uk ...

as of February 2023, with servicemen interviewed by

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

and portrayed by

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

. Between November 2022 and January 2023, a battalion of the 28th Mechanized Brigade numbering 600 men was reported to had been almost annihilated fighting in a village south of

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 ...

, with around 70 soldiers said to have been encircled and massacred in one incident. The drone reconnaissance unit "Madyar's Birds", led by Robert "Madyar" Brovdi was absorbed into the brigade at some point during the war.

Structure

As of 2024, the brigade's structure was as follows: * 28th Mechanized Brigade,

Chornomorske Chornomorske or Chernomorskoye (; ; ) is an urban-type settlement and the administrative center of Chornomorske Raion in Crimea, a territory recognized by a majority of countries as part of Ukraine (the Autonomous Republic of Crimea) and occupied ...

** Headquarters & Headquarters Company ** 1st Mechanized Battalion ** 2nd Mechanized Battalion ** 3rd Mechanized Battalion ** 5th Reserve Battalion ** Detachment South of

Ukrainian Volunteer Army The Ukrainian Volunteer Army () is a volunteer military formation established in December 2015 by Dmytro Yarosh after his departure from Right Sector. On October 14, 2018, Yarosh announced that all combat units were leaving the front line and the ...

** Tank Battalion ** Artillery Battalion *** Headquarters & Target Acquisition Battery *** Self-propelled Artillery Battery (

M109 The M109 is an American 155 mm turreted Self-propelled artillery, self-propelled howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s to replace the M44 self-propelled howitzer, M44 and M52 self-propelled howitzer, M52. It has been upgraded a number of ...

) *** Self-propelled Artillery Battery (

PzH 2000 The Panzerhaubitze 2000 (), meaning "armoured howitzer 2000" and abbreviated PzH 2000, is a German 155 mm Self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer developed by KNDS Deutschland (formerly Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW)) and Rheinmetall in the 198 ...

) *** Rocket Artillery Battery (

BM-27 Uragan The BM-27 Uragan (; GRAU index 9P140) is a self-propelled 220 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union to deliver cluster munitions. The system began its service with the Soviet Army in the late 1970s, and was its first spi ...

) *** Anti-tank Artillery Battery (

100 mm anti-tank gun T-12 2A19 or T-12 is a Soviet-designed 100-mm anti-tank gun. It was the first anti-tank gun to adopt a smoothbore barrel, and to introduce modern armor piercing shot, like the APFSDS. It uses long projectiles that are more powerful than its caliber ...

) ** Anti-Aircraft Defense Battery ** Reconnaissance Company ** Mobile Assault Unit "Kurt & Company" **

Attack Drone Attack may refer to: Warfare and combat * Attack (fencing) * Charge (warfare) * Offensive (military) * Strike (attack) Books and publishing * ''The Attack'' (novel), a book * '' Attack No. 1'', comic and animation * Attack! Books, a publishe ...

Company ** Engineer Battalion ** Engineering Support Group ** Maintenance Battalion ** Logistic Battalion ** Sniper Company ** Electronic Warfare Company ** Signal Company ** Radar Company **

Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense (CBRN defense) or Nuclear, biological, and chemical protection (NBC protection) is a class of protective measures taken in situations where chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclea ...

Company ** Medical Company

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Mechanized brigades of Ukraine Military units and formations established in 2001 Military units and formations of Ukraine in the war in Donbas Military units and formations of Ukraine in the Russian invasion of Ukraine