- Service ensign · official · carried by Air Assault Forces
- State affiliation · Ukraine
- Vigil category device · not official insignia
Identity provenance
Service ensign: Flag of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces — carried by Air Assault Forces, not issued to this record. The service flag of the Air Assault Forces, in use since 2017 — a maroon field charged with the DShV emblem. The design itself is excluded from copyright by Article 8 of Ukraine’s Law on Copyright and Related Rights, which names symbols and signs of government authorities, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations. The file shipped is the Wikimedia Commons SVG "Flag of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces.svg", released under PD-UAexMilitary / PD-UA-exempt on that basis, so no attribution or share-alike obligation attaches. Optimised for web display; geometry unaltered.
State affiliation: Ukraine.
The smaller square mark is a Vigil category device, drawn from this record’s own domain, echelon and role — not an official insignia.
In brief
Air assault brigade formed in December 2022 from a battalion group of the 80th Brigade and equipped with Western vehicles — Challenger 2, Marder and Stryker — publicly documented at Robotyne in the 2023 southern offensive and in the August 2024 Kursk incursion.
- Scope
- Structure, role, lineage and links. No subordinate records published.
- Subordination
- Subordination confirmed
- Sources
- 5 on the record
- Record state
- Partial
- Broad area of activity
- The Zaporizhzhia axis in 2023, the Kursk incursion in 2024, and eastern sectors since, by public reporting. No current disposition is authored.
- Notable history
- Raised in December 2022 around a battalion group of the 80th Brigade and built as one of the formations meant to lead the 2023 offensive, which is why it received the heaviest Western vehicles Ukraine was given — Challenger 2 tanks, Marder and Stryker infantry vehicles. Held in reserve through the first weeks of the offensive and committed at Robotyne in August 2023, it fought the most publicised battle of that campaign; a year later it was among the formations publicly documented in the Kursk incursion of August 2024. The brigade's story is the story of the 2023 plan: built for a breakthrough that did not come, and used since as the branch's best-equipped reserve.
- Strengths
- The best protected vehicles in the DShV and a cadre drawn from one of the branch's veteran brigades; a record at two of the war's most demanding offensive commitments.
- Limitations
- Western vehicles bring Western spares and repair dependencies; the 2023 offensive cost it heavily and publicly; and light-infantry doctrine sits uneasily on heavy equipment.
Lineage & institutional history
Predecessors: 3rd Battalion Tactical Group of the 80th Air Assault Brigade
Related locations
Kursk: Publicly documented in the August 2024 incursion into Kursk region.
Quick actions
System access
Where this record connects into the rest of Vigil. Each row is here because this organisation actually reaches it.
Assessed as of — 2026-07 Last reviewed — 2026-09-28
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