80th Airmobile Brigade (Ukraine)

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80th Airmobile Brigade
250px
Sleeve patch of the Brigade
Active 3 May 1955 – present
Country Ukraine
Branch Ukrainian Ground Forces
Type Airmobile
Size 1,600 (2004–05)
Part of Operation Command West
Garrison/HQ Lviv
Motto Nobody but Us[1]
Anniversaries 19 December (formation)
Equipment BTR-80
Engagements Soviet war in Afghanistan
Nagorno-Karabakh War
Operation Iraqi Freedom
2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine
Decorations Order of the Red Star
Commanders
Commanding officer Colonel Andrei Kovalchuk
Insignia
Airmobile Forces insignia Емблема аеромобільних військ (2007).png
Patch of the 81st Tactical Group in Iraq 81-а тактична група.jpg

The 80th Airmobile Brigade (Ukrainian: 80-та окрема аеромобільна бригада) is an airmobile formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. The brigade is part of Operation Command West. The brigade traces its history back to the 80th Airborne Regiment, 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.[2] In 2013, the regiment was upgraded and became a brigade. The brigade fought in the War in Donbass.

History

The 80th Airborne Regiment was formed on 3 May 1955 in the Lithuanian SSR. It originally formed part of the 7th Guards Airborne Division of the Soviet Airborne Forces at Gaižiūnai. The regiment fought in Operation Whirlwind, the Soviet invasion of Hungary, and landed in Budapest on 4 November 1956. In 1959, it transferred to the 104th Guards Airborne Division and was based in Baku. On 22 February 1968, for its achievements in training, the Regiment was awarded the Order of the Red Star.[3][4] Division headquarters was at Kirovabad (now Gyandzha) in the Azerbaijan SSR. Carey Schofield writes that the 104th Guards Airborne Division "had only two regiments from 1975 to 1980 after the disbandment of the 80th Guards Airborne Regiment in Baku".[5] In August 1968, the regiment participated in Operation Danube, the crushing of the Prague Spring.[6]

On 3 August 1979, the regiment was disbanded. The 39th Separate Air Assault Brigade was formed from elements of the regiment at Khyriv in Lviv Oblast on 19 December.[3][7] The 40th Separate Air Assault Brigade was formed in Nikolayev from other parts of the regiment.[8] In January 1980, the 1st Battalion of the 39th Separate Air Assault Brigade was deployed to Termez for fighting in the Soviet–Afghan War and became the 48th Separate Air Assault Battalion. The battalion was absorbed by the 66th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade in May.[9] In 1986, the 39th Brigade participated in the Chernobyl cleanup. Between January and April 1990, the 39th Separate Air Assault Brigade was deployed to restore order in during the Nagorno-Karabakh War.[10][11]

In June 1990 the 39th Separate Air Assault Brigade became the 224th Training Center of the Soviet Airborne Forces. The brigade included the 1st and 2nd Airborne Training Battalions, as well as an artillery training battalion.[10] In May 1992 the training center became part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.[3] In September 1993, the 224th Training Center was renamed the 39th Separate Airborne Brigade.[12] It became the 6th Separate Airmobile Brigade on 1 November 1995. The brigade participated in Exercise Peaceshield in 1995 and 1996. In December 1999, the brigade was reorganized into the 80th Airmobile Regiment.[11]

Troops of the 80th Airmobile Regiment parachute from a C-17 during Exercise Peaceshield 2000

In July 2000, the regiment participated in Exercise Peaceshield 2000 with US troops and forces from other countries.[13] In April 2003, the regiment was moved to Lviv.[11] In 2004, the regiment was scheduled to be sent to Iraq as part of the Ukrainian contingent there. An airmobile battalion, mortar batteries, an engineer platoon, a chemical defense platoon, communications company and military police company were drawn from the regiment and deployed to Iraq on 15 May 2005 as the 81st Tactical Group.[14] The troops were part of Multinational Division Central-South and were withdrawn at the end of the year, the last Ukrainian unit in Iraq.[15] In 2006, the regiment contributed troops to the Kosovo Force UkrPolBat joint Ukrainian-Polish peacekeeping battalion.[16]

A mortar barrel rupture during a tactical exercise of the regiment's 1st mortar battery mortally wounded four soldiers on 6 August 2008. [17] On 27 May 2010, the regiment was visited by then-President Viktor Yanukovych.[18]

Donetsk Airport New Terminal ruins, which the 80th Airmobile Brigade's 3rd Battalion defended during January 2015

On 25 November 2013, the regiment became the 80th Airmobile Brigade.[12] Between 7–8 April 2014, the brigade relocated to defend the Luhansk Airport. The brigade defended the airport until September, when a Russian attack forced them to retreat.[19] The brigade fought in the battle for Shchastya in June 2014. During a night battle on 17–18 June, 11 personnel from the brigade and the 128th Mountain Brigade were killed.[20] On 1 August, the brigade ambushed a separatist column moving from Sukhodolska to Luhansk, destroying seven tanks, five armored vehicles, 3 BM-21 Grad MLRS, seven cars with ammunition and killing 120–150 separatists.[21] On 5 September, personnel from the brigade and the Aidar Battalion were ambushed between Luhansk and Metalist. 40 bodies of men from both units were returned by the separatists after negotiations. [22] 28 unidentified bodies were buried at Starobilsk on 2 October.[23] On the night of 13-14 October, the brigade reconnaissance group repulsed attacks by the separatist Don Battalion, which was attempting to penetrate Ukrainian territory. [24] On 28 October, seven brigade personnel were released from captivity by the separatists.[25]

The brigade's 3rd Battalion fought in the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport in January 2015. The unit became known as the "Cyborgs" along with other Ukrainian units defending Donetsk Airport. Along with the 90th Separate Airborne Battalion of the 81st Airmobile Brigade, the unit was forced to retreat from the new airport terminal,[26] reportedly under heavy artillery fire and chemical attack. Over 50 soldiers from both units died in the fighting between 19 and 21 January.[27] After the Ukrainian withdrawal from the airport on 21 January, at least 15 soldiers from the brigade were captured by the separatists. Several of the soldiers were subjected to frequent beatings.[28]

On 24 August 2015, President Petro Poroshenko presented the brigade a battle flag for bravery and courage during a review in Kiev on the 24th anniversary of Ukrainian independence.[29] Brigade Junior sergeant and medic Igor Zinych was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Ukraine on 14 October for his actions in caring for the wounded at Donetsk Airport.[30]

Deployments

Soldiers from the brigade have served in Afghanistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kosovo,[16] Sierra Leone, and Iraq.[19]

Structure

The 80th Airmobile Brigade includes the following units.[12]

  • Headquarters Company[31]
  • 1st Airmobile Battalion[31]
    • 1st Airmobile Company
    • 2nd Airmobile Company[31]
    • 3rd Airmobile Company
    • Separate Platoons
  • 2nd Airmobile Battalion[31]
    • 4th Airmobile Company
    • 5th Airmobile Company[32]
    • 6th Airmobile Company
    • 2nd Mortar Battery
  • 1st Mortar Battery[17]
  • Antitank Battery
  • Howitzer Artillery Battalion

The brigade currently includes the following units.

  • 1st Airmobile Battalion (Landing)
    • 1st Airmobile Company
    • 2nd Airmobile Company
    • 3rd Airmobile Company
    • 1st Mortar Battery
    • Separate platoons
  • 2nd Airmobile Battalion (Airmobile)
    • 4th Airmobile Company
    • 5th Airmobile Company
    • 6th Airmobile Company
    • 2nd Mortar Battery
    • Separate platoons
  • 3rd Airmobile Battalion (Landing)
    • 7th Airmobile Company
    • 8th Airmobile Company
    • 9th Airmobile Company
    • 3rd Mortar Battery
    • Separate platoons (based in Chernivtsi)
  • 87th Separate Airmobile Battalion (Landing)
  • Antitank Battery
  • Separate Communications Company
  • Separate Sniper Company
  • Separate Commandant (possible Curfew?) Platoon
  • Separate Financial Security Company
  • Separate Landing Security Company
  • Separate Repair Company
  • Separate Sapper-Engineering Company
  • Separate Chemical Defense Company
  • Brigade Orchestra
  • Club

Past commanders

  • Colonel Ihor Overin – 2005[33]
  • Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Kopachynskii – 2008 [32]
  • Colonel Andrei Kovalchuk – 2015[29][34]

Awards

References

  1. ↑ 81st Tactical Group patch
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 (Ukrainian) Ministry of Defense' Army of Ukraine magazine Issue 1, 2007
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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