The 126th Brigade was formed on the basis of the
36th Separate Coastal Defense Brigade of the
Ukrainian Navy, military unit A2320, which was formed from units of the
32nd Army Corps in 2003. In early 2014, the brigade's barracks in
Crimea were surrounded for several weeks by
masked Russian special forces soldiers during the
annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. On March 21, 2014, servicemen loyal to their oaths to Ukraine were allowed to leave Crimea for unoccupied Ukraine; the remainder were given the option of quitting or renouncing their oaths to Ukraine and swearing a new oath to the Russian Federation. According to Colonel S. I. Storozhenko, the brigade commander, 199 servicemen, of 1,200, left and 300 quit; the remainder swore allegiance to the Russian Federation. Thereafter, it was reported that the brigade and its commander entered the
Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as a separate coastal defense brigade of the Black Sea Fleet. The number was chosen to commemorate the Soviet 126th Coastal Defense Division, which took part in the
Crimean offensive during
World War II.
Battle of Voznesensk On March 2, 2022, as part of the
Southern Ukraine offensive during the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, units of the brigade advanced from
Mykolaiv towards the city of
Voznesensk, in an attempt to find a crossing over the
Southern Bug river. The column consisted of 400 men and 43 vehicles. The unit failed to find a crossing due to preparations taken by the city's mayor and civilian population; there were numerous roadblocks, a bridge over the was destroyed, and the shoreline of the river had been dug out. So, Russian vehicles could not ford it. By 19 April 2022, the Ukrainians claimed that the brigade had suffered 75% casualties during the invasion so far.
2022 Kherson counteroffensive On October 15, 2022, the
Institute for the Study of War wrote in their daily "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment": "A video posted to social media on October 13 shows servicemen of the 126th Coastal Defence Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet in an unspecified location in Kherson Oblast complaining that they have been fighting in the area since the beginning of the war without breaks or troop rotation. The servicemen asserted that they are being "crushed" by Ukrainian forces and emphasized that they have one BTR (armored personnel carrier) for 80 people, which is greatly restricting their maneuverability. After the video circulated, a Wagner Group–affiliated Telegram channel announced on October 14 that Wagner Group leadership decided to transfer four off-road vehicles to the 126th Coastal Defence Battalion [
sic: Brigade] in support of their efforts to hold the frontline in Kherson Oblast.
Ostriv Velykyi Potomkin Since at least November 2022, the 126th brigade has been stationed on
Ostriv Velykyi Potomkin, the scene of continued skirmishes, as part of the
2022–2023 Dnieper campaign. Since the liberation of Kherson, the island has been re-occupied several times. It had initially been liberated by Ukrainian forces on December 7 but was re-occupied by Russian forces on December 9. Ukrainian and Russian forces both maintain a presence on the island and have contested the island since January 2, 2023. The 126th brigade claimed to have repelled an assault on March 7, while Ukrainian forces claimed to have killed 13 Russians and destroyed 6 armored vehicles and a tank during an air strike on 16 April. On August 25, 2023, Ukraine attacked the brigade in
Perevalne, Crimea. ==References==