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

1st First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

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 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 ...

and

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet Union, Soviet main battle tanks that entered production in 1973. The T-72 was a development based on the T-64 using thought and design of the previous Object 167M. About 25,000 T-72 tanks have been built, and refu ...

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

Honcharivske Honcharivske () is a rural settlement in Chernihiv Raion, Chernihiv Oblast, northern Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Honcharivske settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The territory of Honcharivske is located within the Dnie ...

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

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

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 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 ...

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 is a city in Donetsk Oblast, northern part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. The city was known as ''Tor'' until 1784. While it did not actually belong to the raion itself, Sloviansk served as the administrative center of the S ...

Kramatorsk Kramatorsk (, ; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Kramatorsk Raion in Donetsk Oblast of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Prior to 2020, Kramatorsk was a city of oblast significance. Since October 2014, Kramatorsk has been the ...

as a reserve unit and later stationed south of

Izium Izium or Izyum (, ; ) is a city on the Donets River in Kharkiv Oblast, eastern Ukraine that serves as the administrative center of Izium Raion and Izium urban hromada. It is about southeast of the city of Kharkiv, the oblast's administrative cen ...

. According to Ukrainian military journalist , the 4th Tank Brigade took part in the major Ukrainian offensive in the

Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the w ...

in September 2022.

Insignia

4th Tank Brigade Patch.png, First shoulder sleeve insignia 4otbrua.svg, Second shoulder shoulder sleeve insignia 4th Tank Brigade.png, Current shoulder sleeve insignia

Structure

As of 2023 the brigade's structure is as follows: * 4th Tank Brigade * Brigade Headquarters and HQ Company ** 1st Tank Battalion ** 2nd Tank Battalion ** 3rd Tank Battalion ** 4th Tank Battalion ** Mechanized Infantry Battalion ** Field Artillery Regiment *** HQ and HQ Battery *** Anti-Tank Battalion ** Anti-Aircraft Missile Defense Battalion ** Reconnaissance Company ** Combat Engineer Battalion ** Logistic Battalion ** Maintenance Battalion ** Signal Company ** Radar Company ** Medical Company ** CBRN Protection Company ** MP Platoon ** Brigade Band

References

{{Ukrainian Ground Forces Tank brigades 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