Southern Operational Command

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 headquartered in Odesa.

In 2005-2013 it was known as the Southern Operation Association.

Until 2015 Operational Command South covered 9 oblasts and autonomous republics: Odesa, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. In 2015 eastern parts of the operation command territory were passed on to newly formed Operation Command East based in Dnipro. The headquarters of the OC South was relocated from Odesa to Mykolaiv.

Composition

By 1 July 2006, the Southern Operational Command included 6th Army Corps (6 AK) and other units comprising:
* 17th Armoured Brigade (Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast)
* 28th Guards Mechanised Brigade (Chornomorske, Odesa Oblast) reorganized as 28th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in 2015.
* 92nd Mechanised Brigade Kluhoshyno-Bashkyrivka, Chuhuiv Raion, Kharkiv Oblast
* 93rd Mechanised Brigade. Cherkaske Novomoskovsk Raion Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
* 55th Artillery Brigade (Zaporizhzhia)
* 107th Rocket Launcher Regiment (Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast)
* 25th Airborne Brigade Hvardiiske Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
* 79th Airmobile Brigade (Mykolaiv)
* 11th Army Aviation Regiment (Chornobaivka, Kherson Oblast)
* 1039th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment ( Hvardiiske, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast)
* 3rd special purpose Regiment. Kropyvnytskyi
* 50 Academic squad of special training. Kropyvnytskyi

Exercises that command units have taken part in include "Autumn-98", "reaction", "Southern redoubt-99", "Redoubt-2000", including peacekeeping – series of "Peace Shield", "Cossack Steppe," "common neighborhood", "Sea Breeze", "Fairway of Peace," "South," "cooperative partner" joint exercises with units of the armed forces of France and Italy.

Current structure

Operational Command South has operational command of ground force units in Vinnytsia, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, and Kherson oblasts.

* Operational Command South, Odesa
** 28th Mechanized Brigade, Chornomorske
** 56th Motorized Brigade, Melitopol
** 57th Motorized Brigade, Kropyvnytskyi
** 59th Motorized Brigade, Haisyn
** 40th Artillery Brigade, Pervomaisk
** 38th Anti-aircraft Missile Regiment, Nova Odesa
** 7th Signal Regiment, Odesa
** 16th Engineer Regiment,
** 145th Maintenance Regiment,
** 131st Reconnaissance Battalion, Hushchyntsi
** 183rd Logistic Support Battalion, Balta
** 225th Transport Battalion, Balta
** 363rd Security & Service Battalion, Odesa
** 91st Command & Intelligence Center, Krasnosilka
** 64th Information & Signal Center, Odesa
** Regional Radioelectronic Intelligence (REI) Center, Krasnosilka
*** 78th REI Center, Balta
*** 79th REI Center, Reni
*** 82nd Maneuverable REI Center, Krasnosilka
** 23rd Electronic Warfare Company

Additionally the following major ground combat formations of other branches of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, respectively the ground forces, are based in the area of Operational Command South:

* Ground Forces:
** 11th Army Aviation Brigade, in Kherson
* Air Assault Forces:
** 45th Air Assault Brigade, in Bolhrad
** 79th Air Assault Brigade, in Mykolaiv
** 81st Airmobile Brigade, in Kherson
* Naval Forces:
** 36th Separate Marine Brigade, in Mykolaiv
** 406th Coastal Artillery Brigade, in Mykolaiv
** 32nd Rocket Artillery Regiment, in Altestove
* Air Forces:
** 160th Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade, in Odesa
** 208th Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade, in Kherson
** 201st Anti-aircraft Missile Regiment, in Pervomaisk
* Special Forces:
** 3rd Special Forces Regiment, in Kropyvnytskyi
* Territorial Defense Forces
** 120th Territorial Defense Brigade
** 121st Territorial Defense Brigade
** 122nd Territorial Defense Brigade
** 123rd Territorial Defense Brigade
** 124th Territorial Defense Brigade

Leaders

Colonel General Volodymyr Shkidchenko commanded the Odessa Military District from December 1993 until it became the Southern Operational Command in February 1998.

* February 1998 – September 1998, Colonel General Volodymyr Shkidchenko
* 30 September 1998 – 19 December 2001, Colonel General Oleksandr Zatynaiko
* 2001 – 2004, Lieutenant-General Volodymyr Mozharovsky
*? November 2003 – July 2005, Lieutenant General Hryhoriy Pedchenko
* 11 July 2005 – 25 June 2007, Lieutenant-General Ivan Svyda
* 10 July 2007 – 10 May 2012, Lieutenant-General Petro Lytvyn further appointed commander 8th Army Corps (Ukraine) (Zhytomyr)
* Major General Ihor Fedorov (Acting) Chief of Staff
* 2 July 2012 – Major General Anatoliy Sirotenko
* 11 April 2015 Major General Andriy Hryshchenko

References

External links

Land Forces of Ukraine

Southern Operational Command

{{coord missing, Ukraine

Military units and formations of Ukraine
Military units and formations established in 1998
South
1998 establishments in Ukraine