- Service ensign · official · carried by Ground Forces
- State affiliation · Ukraine
- Vigil category device · not official insignia
Identity provenance
Service ensign: Ensign of the Ukrainian Ground Forces — carried by Ground Forces, not issued to this record. The service ensign of the Ground Forces. The design itself is excluded from copyright by Article 8 of Ukraine’s Law on Copyright and Related Rights, which names symbols and signs of government authorities, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations. The file shipped is the Wikimedia Commons SVG "Ensign of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.svg", released under PD-UAexMilitary / PD-UA-exempt on that basis, so no attribution or share-alike obligation attaches. Optimised for web display; geometry unaltered.
State affiliation: Ukraine.
The smaller square mark is a Vigil category device, drawn from this record’s own domain, echelon and role — not an official insignia.
In brief
One of Ukraine's best-known mechanized brigades — Bakhmut and the Donbas positional battles feature heavily in its public record.
- Scope
- Structure, role, lineage and links. No subordinate records published.
- Subordination
- Subordination unknown
- Sources
- 5 on the record
- Record state
- Partial
Broad area of activity
The Donbas — Izium axis in 2022, Bakhmut through 2022–23, then the Donetsk-sector defensive battles.
Notable history
A regular brigade with continuous service since the 1990s, carrying the "Kholodnyi Yar" honorific. Fought the 2022 Izium-axis defence and one of the longest commitments of any brigade at Bakhmut.
Strengths
Institutional continuity and combat experience running back to 2014; one of the strongest public identities in the ground forces.
Limitations
Long high-intensity commitments with the attrition that implies; its equipment base remains largely the legacy Soviet family.
Documented equipment
Reported & historical equipment associations
Key events
Battle of Bakhmut
The war's longest and costliest single battle: Wagner assault infantry and Russian regulars ground through the Donbas city for ten months against a rotating Ukrainian defence before taking it in May 2023, at a cost publicly assessed as exceptional on both sides.
Quick actions
System access
Where this record connects into the rest of Vigil. Each row is here because this organisation actually reaches it.
Assessed as of2026-07Last reviewed2026-07
See this force in the structure Interactive: select this record and follow what connects to it.