The 4th Separate Tank Brigade named after Hetman Ivan Vyhovskyi ( uk, 4-та окрема танкова бригада імені гетьмана Івана Виговського) is an armored formation of the

Ukrainian Ground Forces The Ukrainian Ground Forces ( uk, Сухопу́тні військá Збрóйних сил Украї́ни), also known as the Ukrainian Army, are the land forces of Ukraine and one of the five branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They ...

History

The 4th Tank Brigade was established in late 2017 with the purpose of serving as a reserve unit to the

1st First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and 17th Tank Brigades within the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It was equipped with

T-64 The T-64 is a Soviet tank manufactured in Kharkiv, and designed by Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau. 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, whi ...

and

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks ...

tanks. The brigade underwent training and preparation for combat, including a final stage of combat readiness at

Honcharivske Honcharivske () is an urban-type settlement in Chernihiv Raion of Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders ...

training base, the home of the 1st Tank Brigade, in July 2018. During the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since February 2014. Following Ukraine's Rev ...

in 2019, the 4th Brigade was sent to the Joint Forces Operation Zone to support the 72nd Mechanized and 36th Marines brigades. The brigade was equipped with T-72 and

BMP-2 The BMP-2 (''Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty'', , literally "combat machine/vehicle (of the) infantry") 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 ...

IFVs, and various artillery pieces. In October of that year, the brigade participated in a joint exercise that involved crossing a river, supported by attack helicopters, and attacking suspected enemy positions. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the 4th Tank Brigade was deployed to help defend the northeastern part of the country. The brigade played a significant role in the Battle of Kharkiv and subsequent Eastern Ukraine offensive. It was initially deployed in the area of

Sloviansk Sloviansk ( uk, Слов'янськ, Sloviansk ; russian: Славянск, Slavyansk or ; prior to 1784 – Tor) is a city in the Kramatorsk district of the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the administrative center of the Slovyansk urban commun ...

Kramatorsk Kramatorsk ( uk, Краматорськ, translit=Kramatorsk ) is a city and the administrative centre of Kramatorsk Raion in the northern portion of Donetsk Oblast, in eastern Ukraine. Prior to 2020, Kramatorsk was a city of oblast signific ...

as a reserve unit and later stationed south of

Izium Izium or Izyum ( uk, Ізюм, ; russian: Изюм) is a city on the Donets River in Kharkiv Oblast (province) of eastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Izium Raion (district). Izium hosts the administration of Izium urban ...

. On February 24, 2023, which marked the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

handed over the first four out of 14

Leopard 2A4 The Leopard 2 is a 3rd generation main battle tank originally developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West Ger ...

main battle tanks to the 4th Tank Brigade.

Current structure

As of 2023 the brigade's structure is as follows: * 4th Separate Tank Brigade * Brigade’s Headquarters ** 1st Tank Battalion ** 2nd Tank Battalion ** 3rd Tank Battalion ** 4th Tank Battalion ** Mechanized Battalion ** Artillery Group ** Anti-Aircraft Defense Battalion ** Reconnaissance Company ** Engineer Battalion ** Logistic Battalion ** Maintenance Battalion ** Signal Company ** Radar Company ** Medical Company ** CBRN Protection Company

References

{{Ukrainian Ground Forces Brigades of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Armoured brigades of Ukraine Military units and formations of Ukraine in the war in Donbas Military units and formations of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine