Marine Corps
Marine brigades that have fought overwhelmingly as ground troops — from the defence of Mariupol to the Dnipro crossings.
Broad area of activity
The southern front and the Dnipro estuary; most associated with the defence of Mariupol in 2022 and the 2023–24 bridgehead operations on the Dnipro's left bank.
Notable history
Ukraine's marine infantry fought the war's most emblematic early battle — the 36th Brigade's defence of Mariupol, ending at the Azovstal works — and was later reconstituted and expanded, with the Marine Corps established as a distinct arm in 2023. Marine brigades led the high-attrition bridgehead fighting across the Dnipro at Krynky in 2023–24. Like naval infantry on both sides of this war, its brigades have served overwhelmingly as line ground troops rather than in amphibious roles.
Strengths
Strong formation identity and recruitment pull; experience in the war's hardest defensive and river-crossing operations.
Limitations
The original experienced core suffered heavy losses at Mariupol; employment as regular infantry carries the same attrition as the rest of the front; genuine amphibious capability remains aspirational under current conditions.
Subordinate & associated
- 36th Marine BrigadeFormation
- 35th Marine BrigadeFormation
- 38th Marine BrigadeFormation
Lineage & institutional history
Marine infantry served within the Navy until the Marine Corps was established as a separate arm in 2023; this atlas carried it on the Navy record until 2026-07.