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 Internal Troops of Ukraine, abbreviated ВВ (VV), were a uniformed gendarmerie and Internal Troops in Ukraine which merged with the National Guard of Ukraine on March 13, 2014. They were subordinate to the Chief Directorate of Ministry of Internal Affairs, and cooperate with the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. The VV were used to assist militsiya in policing, deal with riots and internal armed conflicts, and safeguard important facilities such as nuclear power plants. In wartime, the Internal Troops were under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian armed forces for local defense and rear area security.
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 National Guard of Ukraine is the Ukrainian national gendarmerie and internal military force. It is part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, responsible for public security. Originally created as an agency under the direct control of the Verkhovna Rada on 4 November 1991, following Ukrainian independence, it was later disbanded and merged into the Internal Troops of Ukraine in 2000 by President Leonid Kuchma as part of a "cost-saving" scheme. Following the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, amidst the Russian intervention, the National Guard was re-established, and the Internal Troops were disbanded.
Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, primarily the People's Militias of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), were pro-Russian paramilitaries in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. They were under the overall control of the Russian Federation. They were also referred to as Russian proxy forces. They were active during the war in Donbas (2014–2022), the first stage of the Russo-Ukrainian War. They then supported the Russian Armed Forces against the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the 2022 Russian invasion. In September 2022, Russia annexed the DPR and LPR, and began integrating the paramilitaries into its armed forces. They are designated as terrorist groups by the government of Ukraine.
The 12th Special Operations Brigade "Azov" is a formation of the National Guard of Ukraine formerly based in Mariupol, in the coastal region of the Sea of Azov, from which it derives its name. It was founded in May 2014 as the Azov Battalion, a self-funded volunteer militia under the command of Andriy Biletsky, to fight Russian-backed forces in the Donbas War. It was formally incorporated into the National Guard on 11 November 2014, and redesignated Special Operations Detachment "Azov", also known as the Azov Regiment. In February 2023, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that Azov was to be expanded as a brigade of the new Offensive Guard.
The 2nd Battalion of Special Assignment "Donbas" is a unit of the National Guard of Ukraine under to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and formerly based in Severodonetsk. Originally created in 2014 as a volunteer unit called the Donbas Battalion by Semen Semenchenko following the Russian occupation of Crimea and possible invasion of continental Ukraine. The unit first formed in the spring of 2014 during the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine. The unit was initially formed as an independent force, but has been since fully integrated into the National Guard as the 2nd Special Purpose Battalion "Donbas" within the 15th Regiment of the National Guard.
24th Separate Assault Battalion "Aidar" also known as the Aidar Battalion, is an assault battalion of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.
Semen Ihorovych Semenchenko is a former deputy to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on National Security and Defence and the commander-founder of the Donbas Battalion, a territorial defence battalion based in Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk Oblasts. He was a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from 2014 to 2019.
Territorial defence battalions were volunteer military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the auspices of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence in 2014–2015. They should not be confused with the volunteer units of Special Tasks Patrol Police of Ukraine created along with territorial defense battalions, but under the auspices of the Ministry of Interior. Together, they are both collectively known as the Ukrainian volunteer battalions. The battalions were established in mid-2014, during the early stages of the war in Donbas, to combat the pro-Russian separatists and the forces of the Donetsk People's Republic, Luhansk People's Republic, and the United Armed Forces of Novorossiya. 32 volunteer territorial defence battalions were formed.
Aleksey Borisovich Mozgovoy was a commander of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic in Ukraine. He was the leader of the pro-Russian Prizrak Brigade.
Ihor Lapin is a Ukrainian lawyer and politician who is a former (2014–2019) Member of the Parliament of Ukraine.
Separate Guards Assault Battalion "Somalia" named after M. S. Tolstykh, often known as Somalia Battalion, is a military unit of Russian Ground Forces. Until January 1, 2023 it was part of so called self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). In September 2022, with a decree of Vladimir Putin, Russia unilaterally annexed occupied areas of Ukraine, and after that, military units of DPR and LPR were officially incorporated in Russian Armed Forces.
The Prizrak Brigade (Russian: Бригада «Призрак», romanized: Brigada "Prizrak", lit. 'Ghost Brigade'), founded by Aleksey Mozgovoy, is an infantry unit of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), one of the self-proclaimed breakaway states located in the Donbas. It has been officially designated Prizrak Mechanized Brigade and 4th Territorial Defense Brigade (Alchevsk). According to Amnesty International, the unit is one of the separatist units known for brutal treatment and torture of prisoners of war. Until January 1, 2023, it was part of the Luhansk People's Militia. It is attached to the 3rd Guards Combined Arms Army.
The Right SectorUkrainian 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 "volunteer battalions", created as a response to the rise of pro-Russian separatism and the Russian intervention in the war in Donbas.
The Special Police Forces is a Ukrainian volunteer corps of law enforcement units, part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. It was originally created for prevention of criminal encroachment and defence of civil order on 15 April 2014, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the ongoing war in Donbas, the forces of the Special Tasks Patrol Police have fought against pro-Russian separatists as a paramilitary force.
Ukrainian volunteer battalions were militias and paramilitary groups mobilized as a response to the perceived state of weakness and unwillingness of the regular Armed Forces to counter rising separatism in spring 2014. They trace their origins to the "Maidan Self-Defense" militias formed during the Euromaidan in 2013. The earliest of these volunteer units were later formalized into military, special police and paramilitary formations in a response to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine in 2014. Most of the formations were formed or placed under command of the Ministry of Internal Affairs — as "Special Tasks Patrol Police" — and Ministry of Defence — as "Territorial defence battalions". A minority of battalions were independent of state control.
The Territorial Defence Forces are the military reserve component of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The 57th Otaman Kost Hordiienko Motorized Brigade is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. The brigade was formed beginning in November 2014 in the city of Kropyvnytskyi in Kirovohrad Oblast. Initially, the brigade consisted of three volunteer territorial defence battalions. By the summer of 2015, the brigade was deployed to fight in the war in Donbas. The ground forces plan to mechanize the brigade in the future.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Russo-Ukrainian War:
Ukraine 
