War in Donbas The unit was first formed as the 2nd Motor Rifle Brigade on November 1, 2014. It was based on three early
LPR battalions: "Zarya", which became the 1st Motor Rifle Battalion; "Don", which became the 2nd Motor Rifle Battalion; and "Hooligan", which became the 3rd. "Zarya" ("Dawn") was originally formed in early 2014 as the 1st LNOB (Luhansk People's Liberation Battalion/Луганский Народно-освободительный батальон), part of the "Army of the South-East". It had been founded by
Igor Plotnitsky, who later became the leader of the LPR, and as such, remained one of the LPR's most important battalions. By mid-2015, the strength of the LPR 2nd Motor Rifle Brigade was thought to be around 4,500 personnel. Ukrainian analysts considered the LPR 2nd Motor Rifle Brigade to be one of the most powerful units in the
DPR and LPR, partly because it consistently had the highest staffing level compared to other units. On November 1, 2015, Plotnitsky awarded the brigade the "Guards" status, and on September 5, 2016, he named the brigade after the
Hero of the Soviet Union Marshal Kliment Voroshilov.
Russian invasion of Ukraine The brigade took part in battles of
Rubizhne,
Sievierodonetsk and
Lysychansk. In January 2023, after the
2nd Army Corps was incorporated into the
Russian Armed Forces, the brigade was renamed the
123rd Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade. On July 17, 2023, brigade commander Denis "Tashkent" Ivanov was killed by a Ukrainian
FPV drone. == Structure ==