The 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade () is a 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 ...

created in 2022. The brigade was formed on the basis of the

Ukrainian Volunteer Corps The Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer Corps () or simply the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps (), was the paramilitary arm of right-wing Ukrainian nationalist party Right Sector. The Ukrainian Volunteer Corps was founded on July 17, 2014, as one of the " ...

, the

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

arm of right-wing

Ukrainian nationalist Ukrainian nationalism (, ) is the promotion of the unity of Ukrainians as a people and the promotion of the identity of Ukraine as a nation state. The origins of modern Ukrainian nationalism emerge during the Cossack uprising against the Poli ...

party

Right Sector Right Sector () is a loosely defined coalition of right-wing to far-right Ukrainian nationalist organizations. It originated in November 2013 as a right-wing, paramilitary confederation of several ultranationalist organizations at the Euroma ...

. In April 2024, soldiers and commanders from the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps started being transferred to other units, mainly due to the loss of territory in the defense of Chasiv Yar caused by preferential treatment given to Right Sector veterans and failure to reform the old volunteer battalion structure into a standard

Ukrainian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

unit.

History

Shortly after the Russian invasion in February 2022, the Ukrainian command decided to bring all volunteer formations under the command of the Ukrainian Army. One of the largest volunteer formations at that time was the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps (known as DUK), which was formed by Right Sector after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. Following the Russian full-scale invasion in 2022, the DUK expanded to six battalions and its units participated in the defense of key towns such as

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

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

Mariupol Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...

, and many others. In March 2022, the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps accepted the offer of the Ukrainian command and joined the

Special Operations Forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

(SSO) as the 7th Center of Volunteer Corps. In late November 2022, it was revealed that not all battalions had joined the SSO and instead had formed a new brigade within the structure of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, the 67th Mechanized Brigade. The second battalion of DUK was reformed as the first battalion of the 67th Mechanized Brigade, and the sixth battalion became the 2nd battalion. The brigade also has its own tank and artillery unit. During the defense of Chasiv Yar on April 6, 2024 the 2nd Rifle Battalion of 67th Mechanized Brigade lost both commander Serhiy Konoval and deputy commander Taras Petryshyn, of 2nd company of the battalion.

Internal divisions and personnel changes

In February 2024, a portion of the Da Vinci Wolves Unit transferred from the 67th Mechanized Brigade to the

59th Motorized Brigade The 59th Separate Assault Brigade () is a formation of the Unmanned Systems Forces formed in 2014 as part of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. The brigade was activated on 8 December 2014 in the city of Haisyn in Vinnytsia Oblast and took command of ...

. On 14 April 2024, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces began transferring the personnel from the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps to other Ukrainian military units. One of the main reasons for this move was the loss of some key positions in the fighting surrounding

Chasiv Yar Chasiv Yar (, ) is a city in Bakhmut Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is located west of Bakhmut and is the center of Chasiv Yar urban hromada. In January 2022, it had a population of 12,250, though RBC News claimed the population in May 20 ...

Donetsk Oblast Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...

, where heavy fighting had been going on since early 2024. The unit specifically fought in the canal district of Chasiv Yar. It has also been noted that the situation was being investigated. One of the main issues within the brigade, according to Ukrainska Pravda, was that the leadership allegedly separated soldiers from the Right Sector from recruits who were transferred from other units during recent replenishments. The attitude towards these recruits was that they typically saw combat first, despite their lack of experience - leading to the brigade losing territory. It was alleged that this was not the only reason for the brigade's combat capacity deficiencies - other reasons can be attributed to the failure and inability to reform Ukrainian volunteer units successfully into the official Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Structure

As of April 2024, the brigade's structure was as follows: * 67th Mechanized Brigade,

Dnipro Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

, Dnipro Oblast ** Headquarters & Headquarters Company ** 67mech 1bat

1st Separate Assault Battalion " DaVinci Wolves", Commander Yury Kapustyak. ***1st Mechanized Company ****4th Group "V Legion". 4th platoon-sized group of the company. Commander was Andriy Zhovanyk until his death in mid-2022. ***Assault Company "Honor" ***3rd Assault Company ***Tank Company ***Artillery Group ***Reconnaissance Company "Wild Field" ***Medical Service "Ulf" ** 67mech2bat

2nd Mechanized Battalion "Wolverines". Commander “Rustam” ** 3bat duk

3rd Separate Mechanized Battalion named after Colonel Vasyl Ivanyshyn. Commander Stepan Trach ** 67mech 1rifle

1st Rifle Battalion. Commander Oleh Kuzko ** 27riflebat

27th Separate Rifle Battalion ** 2nd Rifle Battalion named after Taras Bobanych "Hammer". Commander “Syedoj” ***1st Rifle Company ***2nd Rifle Company "Steel Hundred" ***3rd Rifle Company *** Fire Support Company "T-Company" ** 67mech tank

67th Tank Battalion (

T-72B The T-72 is a Soviet Union, Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1973. It replaced the T-54/55 series as the workhorse of Soviet tank forces (while the T-64 and T-80 served as the Soviet high-technology tanks). In front-lin ...

and T-72B3M) ** 67mecharty

1st Artillery Division (1 ADn) ***Headquarters and Target Acquisition Battery ***Self-propelled artillery battalion (

2S1 Gvozdika The 2S1 ''Gvozdika'' (, "Dianthus caryophyllus, Carnation") is a Soviet Self-propelled artillery, self-propelled howitzer introduced in 1972 and is in service in Russia and other countries . It is based on the MT-LBu multi-purpose chassis, mount ...

) ***Field Artillery Battalion (

M119 The M119 howitzer is a lightweight 105 mm howitzer, used by the United States Army. It is the American licensed version of the British L119 light gun. The M119 is typically towed by the M1097 or M1152 High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled V ...

and 2A65 Msta-B) ***Rocket Artillery Battalion (

BM-21 Grad The BM-21 "Grad" () is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union. The system and the M-21OF rocket were first developed in the early 1960s, and saw their first combat use in March 1969 during the Sino-S ...

and

TOS-1 TOS-1 Buratino (, Heavy Flamethrower System) is a Soviet 220 mm 30-barrel (original system, Object 634 or TOS-1M) or 24-barrel (Object 634B or TOS-1A Solntsepyok) multiple rocket launcher capable of using thermobaric warheads, mounted on a ...

) ***Anti-tank artillery battalion (

MT-12 Rapira 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 ...

) ** 2nd Artillery Regiment *** Headquarters and Target Acquisition Battery ** Electronic Warfare Group ** Anti-Aircraft Defense Battalion ** Reconnaissance 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 "Combat Chafers" ** Engineer Battalion ** Logistic Battalion ** Signal Company ** Maintenance Battalion ** Radar Company ** Medical Company

References

Military units and formations of Ukraine in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Mechanized brigades of Ukraine Military units and formations established in 2022 Ukrainian nationalist organizations Far-right politics in Ukraine {{Ukrainian Ground Forces