Active 1943–present Type Mechanized Brigade | Country Ukraine Part of 6th Army Corps | |
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Branch Ukrainian Ground Forces Garrison/HQ Cherkaske Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Ukraine | ||
The 93rd Mechanized Brigade is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. The full name of the Brigade is the 93rd Separate Mechanized Kharkiv Brigade.
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History
The Brigade traces its history back to the 93rd Guards Rifle Division of the Soviet Union's Red Army, formed at Valuki in April 1943 from 13th Guards and 92nd Rifle Brigades. The Division fought at Kursk, Kharkov, Budapest, and Prague, and was serving with the 53rd Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front in May 1945. After a period as a 35th Guards Mechanized Division, and then 35th Guards Motor Rifle Division 1957-65, the Division was redesignated as the 93rd Guards Motor Rifle Division in 1965. It served with the Southern Group of Forces in Hungary during the last years of the Cold War, and after the fall of the Berlin Wall was withdrawn to Ukraine from October 1990 to January 1991.
There it became part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In Decree 925/96(?), Colonel Anatoly Savatiovich Pushnyakov, Commander of the 93rd Mechanised Division of the 6th Army Corps, Southern Operational Command, Ukrainian Ground Forces, was promoted to General-Major.
The division appears to have been redesignated a brigade after 1996 and after 1999.
Throughout 1999, the '93rd Motor Rifle Division' conducted a series of small unit and staff officer exchanges with the 40th Infantry Division of the California Army National Guard.
On December 10, 2007 the Brigade received its Colour by the order of the President of Ukraine.
The brigade fought in the War in Donbass, defending Donetsk International Airport during the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport alongside the 95th Airmobile Brigade.
The brigade is currently based in Krasnoarmiisk. On 18 November 2015 its honorifics "Twice Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov" were removed as part of an Armed Forces-wide removal of Soviet awards and honorifics, but not its Kharkiv battle honor, given as a result of its participation in the 1943 Belgorod-Khar'kov Offensive Operation. On 22 August 2016, its Guards title was also removed.
The Donbas War
The brigade was deployed in the War in Donbas against the Russian army and its proxy forces. The unit fought on the frontlines from 2014-2016 before being recalled in March 2016. During this period, 138 soldiers were killed in action, over 1,000 were wounded, and 9 soldiers were held as prisoners of war.
The brigade returned to the frontline. On 19 July an IFV of the brigade detonated an IED, killing two soldiers.