multiple rocket launcher during the
War in Donbas, November 2014 The original 28th Guards Rifle Division was formed during the Second World War from the
180th Rifle Division in May 1942. The division fought at
Kharkiv and
Iași. It was with the
37th Army in Bulgaria in May 1945. During the 1980s, the then 28th Guards Motor Rifle Division was part of the
14th Guards Army headquartered at
Chișinău, in the
Moldavian SSR (
Odesa Military District). After
the fall of the Soviet Union it became part of the reorganised Ukrainian 6th Army Corps. After the
6th Army Corps was disbanded in 2013, the brigade became part of
Operational Command South. The brigade fought in the
war in Donbas. On 22 August 2016, its Guards title was removed. On 22 August 2019 by decree of
President Volodymyr Zelensky the official name of the brigade became:
28th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Knights of the First Winter Campaign.
Russian invasion of Ukraine , 2017 The brigade took part in the defense of Ukraine during the
Russian invasion of Ukraine on the
southern front. According to the chairman of the Public Council at the Odesa Regional State Administration Serhiy Bratchuk, the Russians tried to conduct a maritime and air landing in on the Black Sea coast of the Mykolaiv area. As a result of the brigade, the Russians' attempt to land was stopped, and they retreated, losing up to 25 soldiers. Two more saboteurs were detained in the village of Kobleve. After the defense of Kobleve, elements of the 28th Brigade took part in the
defense of Voznesensk. The brigade defended the
Oleksandrivka and
Posad-Pokrovske sectors of the front line between
Kherson and
Mykolaiv throughout 2022. Two days later, on the 12th of November, elements of the brigade were seen entering
Kherson as part of the liberation of the city during the
southern offensive. Elements of the brigade were also present in the
battle of Bakhmut as of February 2023, with servicemen interviewed by
CNN and portrayed by
The New Yorker. Between November 2022 and January 2023, a battalion of the 28th Mechanized Brigade numbering 600 men was reported to had been almost annihilated fighting in a village south of
Bakhmut, with around 70 soldiers said to have been encircled and massacred in one incident. The Brigade's artillery battalion has been observed using
M109A4BE self-propelled howitzers to provide supporting fire to other elements of the 28th Brigade fighting in and around the city of
Kostiantynivka as of August 2025 by
United24. The drone reconnaissance unit "Madyar's Birds", led by
Robert "Madyar" Brovdi was absorbed into the brigade at some point during the war. == Structure ==