The unit's history stems from the 174th Rifle Division, which became the 20th Guards Rifle Division in 1942. The 174th Rifle Division fought as part of the 22nd Army in the Polotsk defensive operation, where it escaped encirclement. During the winter of 1942, it fought in defensive and counteroffensive operations in the Battle of Moscow. It was awarded the honorary title of "Guards" and was renamed into the 20th Guards Rifle Division on 17 March 1942.
In 1945, the unit became the 25th Guards Mechanized Division,[7] and in 1957, it was renamed to the 37th Guards Tank Division at Constanza with the 1st Guards Army.[1] The division moved to Kryvyi Rih in 1958 and was subordinated to the 6th Guards Army. In 1960, the 69th Separate Tank Training Battalion, which was part of the 37th Guards Tank Division, was disbanded. On 19 February 1962, the Missile Battalion and the 129th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery Battalion were activated. On 11 January 1965, the 37th Guards Tank Division became the 17th Guards Tank Division, a designation it would retain until the fall of the Soviet Union.[1]
In 1968, the 26th Separate Guards Sapper Battalion became an engineer-sapper battalion. The chemical defence company activated the 44th Separate Chemical Defence Battalion in 1972. The 1055th Separate Material Supply Battalion was formed from the separate motor transport battalion.
In June 1989, the 1158th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment was transferred to East Germany, and was replaced by the 1069th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment of the 47th Guards Tank Division. The 25th and 92nd Tank Regiments of the 58th Tank Division replaced the division's 216th Guards and 224th Tank Regiments in June 1990. During the Cold War, the division was maintained at 60% strength.[1]
It is still designated a tank division as of Decree N 350/93 (21 August 1993), when Colonel Ivan Svidi, Commander of the 17th Tank Division, 6th Army Corps, Odesa Military District, became a major-general.
In accordance with Decree 925/98, of 23 August 1998, division commander Serhiy Andriyovych Harbuz was promoted to Major General.[8]
In September 2003, the division was downsized into a brigade.[6] After the 6th Army Corps was disbanded in 2013, the brigade became part of Operational Command East.
On 18 November 2015, its honorifics "Red Banner Order of Suvorov" were removed as part of an Armed Forces-wide removal of Soviet awards and honorifics.[9] The Kryvyi Rih battle honour remained because Kryvyi Rih is located in Ukraine.[10] On 22 August 2016 its Guards title was removed.[11]
During the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport, the word cyborg (Ukrainian: кіборг) was used to refer to the Ukrainian defenders of the airport.[12][13] It was first applied to these soldiers online, and was picked up by the Ukrainian media. It refers to the way that the airport defenders were able to fend off constant attacks by DPR forces in close quarters with little sleep or support, just as science-fiction cyborgs are "indestructible half-men, half-machines", or "superhuman".[12][14] The cyborgs have become part of Ukrainian national mythos, and are cast in a "near-legendary light" amongst many Ukrainians.[15] The term "cyborg" is usually applied to the following units: 3rd Spetsnaz Regiment, 93rd Mechanised Brigade, 79th Airmobile Brigade, 17th Tank Brigade, and the Right Sector volunteer battalion.[16]
The Ukrainian Ground Forces, also referred to as the Ukrainian army, are the land forces of Ukraine and one of the eight branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They were formed from Ukrainian units of the Soviet Army after Ukrainian independence, and trace their ancestry to the 1917–22 army of the Ukrainian People's Republic.
The 24th Mechanized Brigade is a mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, based at Yavoriv in the west of Ukraine.
The 72nd Mechanized Brigade named after theBlack Zaporozhians is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. It was previously named the 29th Rifle Division and then the 72nd Guards Rifle Division of the Soviet Ground Forces. In 1957, it became a motor rifle division.
The 128th Mountain Assault Brigade is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.
The 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade "Kholodnyi Yar" is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces formed in 1992. It has been described as "one of the most brutally effective" of Ukraine’s front-line brigades.
The 92nd Assault Brigade "Ivan Sirko", abbreviated 92 OShBr, is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. Its honorific name is after Cossack military leader Ivan Sirko. The unit was formed in 1999 as the 6th Mechanized Division based on the 6th Division of the National Guard of Ukraine. In 2000 it was reorganized as the 92nd Mechanized Brigade. Following the Russo-Ukrainian war and the 2015 decommunization in Ukraine, the brigade's Soviet honors and heritage were purged.
The 28th Mechanized Brigade is a mechanized brigade and part of the formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.
Guards units were elite units and formations in the Soviet Armed Forces that continue to exist in the Russian Armed Forces and other post-Soviet states. These units were awarded Guards status after distinguishing themselves in wartime service, and are considered to have elite status. The Guards designation originated during World War II, its name coming both from the Russian Imperial Guard, and the old Bolshevik Red Guards. Practical benefits of the status included double pay for ordinary soldiers and the designation often served as a morale-boosting source of unit pride.
The 6th Army Corps was one of three army corps of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. The Corps was headquartered in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. Its units were spread across Poltava Oblast, Sumy Oblast, Kharkiv Oblast, and Kirovohrad Oblast. The Corps was formed in 1993 after the collapse of the Soviet Union from a redesignation of the former Soviet 6th Guards Tank Army. It was disbanded in 2013 when the Ukrainian Ground Forces were reorganized, being replaced by Operational Command South.
The 1st Tank Brigade "Severia" is a brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces formed in 1997.
The 80th Separate Galician Air Assault Brigade ; Military Unit Number A0284) is an airmobile formation of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces. The brigade traces its history back to the 80th Airborne Regiment of the Soviet Union, formed in 1955 as part of the Soviet airborne's 7th Guards Airborne Division. Four years later, the regiment transferred to the 104th Guards Airborne Division. It participated in Operation Whirlwind in 1956 and Operation Danube in 1968. In 1979, the regiment was disbanded and used to form the 39th and 40th Separate Air Assault Brigades of the Soviet Army. The 39th Separate Air Assault Brigade became the 224th Training Center after transfer back to the Soviet airborne in 1990. The training center was taken over by Ukraine in 1992 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and became the 6th Separate Airmobile Brigade in 1995. In 1999, the brigade was reorganized into the 80th Airmobile Regiment, part of the 13th Army Corps. In 2013, the regiment was upgraded and became a brigade. The brigade fought in the War in Donbass, and was redesignated as an air assault brigade in 2015.
Operational Command East is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces in eastern Ukraine. Its headquarters is currently located in Dnipro.
The 53rd Mechanized Brigade named after Volodymyr Monomakh is a brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, subordinated to Operational Command East.
The 54th Mechanized Brigade named after Hetman Ivan Mazepa is a brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, part of Operational Command East. The brigade is based in Bakhmut and was formed in 2014. The brigade fought in the war in Donbas and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Presidential Brigade "Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytskyi" is a special military unit of Ukraine and its Armed Forces which is mandated to defend the president of Ukraine in his duty as Supreme Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, the First Family, and the presidential residences and facilities assigned to the presidential office.
Kostiantyn Yuriyovych Pestushko was a Ukrainian military leader, commander of the rebel Steppe Division, Otaman of the Kholodny Yar Republic.
Hennadiy Petrovych Vorobiov was a Ukrainian Colonel general and Commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine from November 2009 to January 2014.
Major-General Andrii Trokhymovych Kovalchuk is a Ukrainian military officer. He graduated from a military academy in 1997 and joined the Ukrainian army. He served in Ukraine and on deployment as a peacekeeper to the United Nations missions in Kosovo, Liberia and the Côte d'Ivoire. During the war in Donbas from 2014 to 2022, Kovalchuk took part in successful operations to liberate settlements in Donetsk Oblast before assaulting the Luhansk International Airport. Despite being wounded he captured the airport and held it for almost two months. Kovalchuk afterwards served with airborne troops and recommended the replacement of their Soviet-style uniform. On 24 August 2016, the same day uniform reforms were implemented, he was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.
Oleksandr Serhiiovych Pivnenko is a Ukrainian athlete, serviceman, Brigadier general of the National Guard of Ukraine, a participant in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Commander of the National Guard of Ukraine, member of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff. Hero of Ukraine (2023).
1 2 "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №618/2019"[DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE №618 / 2019] (in Ukrainian). President of Ukraine. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
↑ "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ № 569/2006"[Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 569/2006]. president.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). Press Service of the President of Ukraine. 23 June 2006. Archived from the original on 17 August 2007. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
↑ "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №646/2015"[Ukaz President of Ukraine No. 646/2015] (in Ukrainian). President of Ukraine. 18 November 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-08-31. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
↑ "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №344/2016"[Ukaz of the President of Ukraine No. 344/2016] (in Ukrainian). President of Ukraine. 22 August 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
Guards units marked in bold unless they are in a Guards section.
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