156th Anti-aircraft Missile Regiment (Ukraine)

156th Anti-aircraft Missile Regiment
156-й зенітний ракетний полк
Insignia of the Ukrainian 156th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment
Active	1992 – present
Country	Ukraine
Allegiance	Ukraine
Branch	Ukrainian Air Force
Type	Missile
Role	Anti-Aircraft
Part of	Air Command Center
Garrison/HQ	Zolotonosha
Nickname(s)	Donetsk Brigade
Patron	Maksym Kryvonis
Equipment	Buk M1
Engagements	Russo-Ukrainian war War in Donbass 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Decorations	For Courage and Bravery
Commanders
Current commander	Oleksandr Ivanovich Stashuk
Insignia
Former Insignia
Collar Insignia

The 156th Anti-aircraft Missile Regiment is a regiment of the Ukrainian Air Force tasked with air defense operations throughout Cherkasy Oblast. It operates Buk M1 missile systems and is subordinated to the Air Command Center. It is headquartered at Zolotonosha. ^[1]

History

In 1992, after the Dissolution of the Soviet union, the 156th Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade of the 14th Guards Combined Arms Army headquartered in Moldova, took the oath of loyalty to Ukraine on 12 January 1992 ^[2] becoming the 156th Anti-aircraft Missile Regiment. ^[3]

In 2007, the Regiment was relocated from Oleksiivka in Odesa Oblast to Donbass, one division of the regiment was stationed in Avdiivka and the other two went to Luhansk and Mariupol.

On 20 May 2008, the regiment was given the honorary name "Donetsk". ^[4]

At the start of War in Donbass, the regiment was evacuated to Zolotonosha in Cherkasy Oblast where it's currently headquartered. ^[5] The formerly "Avdiivka" division saw deployment at Zenit base on the southeastern outskirts of Avdiivka, east of Opytne, equipped with typical firing positions for air defense complexes, underground communications and service buildings. ^[6] Starting from mid April until mid June 2014, separatists protested in front of the regiment's Zenit base, proposing to them to defect so the servicemen retaliated by air firing, crowd dispersal and barricades. The 3rd Separate Special Purpose Regiment (Ukraine) was also sent to the base to protect it. On the morning of 21 June 2014, the base was subjected to massive shelling from mortars and large-caliber machine guns destroying the radio equipment of the Regiment, followed by a separatist assault capturing the HQ of the 156th Regiment, some servicemen of the 156th regiment defected to the separatists. The 156th regiment continued fighting using ZU-23-2s and RPG-22s. From 10 July, the First Battle of Donetsk Airport started and the 156th regiment struck separatists from its positions at Zenith base destroying separatist vehicles. On 18 July, units from the 93rd Mechanized Brigade came to Zenith base with a force consisting of four tanks and a pair of BMP-2s. On 19 July, separatists surrounded the Zenith base but as the positions were heavily fortified there were no human casualties but parked vehicles of the 93rd brigade were destroyed forcing the 73rd Brigade to be withdrawn on 20 July. On July 21, fighting around the airport intensified again, so the 156th regiment provided support by destroying two separatist vehicles after which it's positions were subjected to many hours of separatist fire from small arms, mortars, a tank and even BM-21 Grads killing a soldier of the regiment. After a month, the "Avdiivka" division of the 156th regiment was transferred to Zolotonosha as the Zenit position was handed over to Wild Duck Detachment. ^{[6] [7]} On 3 September 2014, personnel from the Dnipro-1 Regiment were ambushed and besieged near the village of Pisky on the highway between Avdiivka and Donetsk. So the 156th regiment was sent as backup providing fire support using ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns lifting the siege but during the engagement a soldier of the regiment (Boris Sergeyevich Kozak) was killed by sniper fire. ^{[8] [9]}

On 11 July 2015, a soldier of the regiment (Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Baranenko) was killed by a separatist sniper whilst serving in the ATO zone. ^[10]

On.13 May 2016, a soldier of the regiment (Kostyantyn Valentynovich Grinchenko) was killed from the wounds suffered as a result of an earlier engagement with separatists. ^[11]

On 25 February 2021, the second day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the convoy of the 156th regiment was on the way to the front lines when Russian strike helicopters attacked it destroying a battery and killing a soldier of the regiment (Bereza Serhii Hryhorovych). ^[12] On 24 August 2022, the regiment was awarded the honorary award "For Courage and Bravery". ^[13]

Structure

The structure of the regiment is as follows: ^[14]

• 1247th Separate Anti-aircraft Missile Division "Avdiivka"
• 1248th Separate Anti-aircraft Missile Division "Mariupol"
• 1249th Separate Anti-aircraft Missile Division "Luhansk"

Commanders

• Oleksandr Ivanovich Stashuk (2017-) ^{[15] [16] [17]}

Sources

• Донецьк військовий — 7: Війська протиповітряної оборони
• Військові частини Повітряних Сил за родами військ Archived 19 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine

References

1. "Військові частини Повітряних Сил за родами військ". Ukrainian Military Pages (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
2. "Військовослужбовці відсвяткували перші іменини свого полку у Золотоноші". October 2015. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
3. 156th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade
4. У Донецьку з'явився свій зенітний ракетний полк Archived 11 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine
5. "Як 156-й зенітний ракетний полк вийшов неушкодженим з Донецька". 16 February 2015. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
6. "Після майже 10 років оборони українські війська залишили позицію "Зеніт" біля Авдіївки". Military (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 2024-02-17. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
7. АТО: история первых побед. Непокоренный «Зенит» Archived 4 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine
8. Козак Борис Сергійович Archived 20 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine
9. Борис Козак
10. На Буринщині на честь загиблого в АТО Олександра Бараненка встановили пам'ятну дошку Archived 21 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine
11. "Книга пам'яті". Archived from the original on 12 September 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
12. "У бою під Ніжином загинув військовий Сергій Береза з Кременчука Больше читайте тут". telegraf.in.ua (in Russian). 2020-03-07. Archived from the original on 24 March 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
13. "Про відзначення почесною відзнакою "За мужність та відвагу"". 24 August 2022.
14. "156 ЗРП на сайті ontology.inhost.com.ua". Archived from the original on 30 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
15. "156 зенітний ракетний полк » Ніхто не зрадив присязі!". zolotonosha.ck.ua (in Ukrainian). 2017-12-06. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
16. Granovskyi, Dmytro (2021-11-25). "У золотоніських військовослужбовців незабаром з'явиться додатковий спортивний реманент". zolotonosha.ck.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-01-23.
17. "У Золотоноші військова частина відсвяткувала власну річницю днем відкритих дверей (фото) | Про Все | Новини Черкас та Черкаської області". provce.ck.ua (in Ukrainian). 2017-10-03. Retrieved 2023-01-29.