Understanding Ukrainian Ground Forces: Brigades and Battalions
A look into the manuals of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Foreword
While researching my dissertation topic, I fell into this website: ukrmilitary.com
Ukrainian Military Pages provide articles related to Ukrainian defence topics, but it also regroups the latest publicly available Ukrainian military manuals and infographics that depict the structure of the Ukrainian armed forces. Yours truly, therefore, fell into a rabbit hole and started digging up ORBAT ideas instead of working on his dissertation topic…
Brigades
Ground Forces (GF) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) fields a variety of “melee” brigades, namely Motorised, Mechanised, Mountain Assault, Light Infantry and Tank Brigades. Note that Naval Infantry, Air Assault and Airborne Brigades are omitted here as they are under the control of the Naval and Airborne Assault Branche of the AFU, respectively, and the sourced manuals focus specifically on the Ground Forces.
Moving back to the Ground Forces, according to Military Balance 2023 and before the 2022 Russian invasion, the GF fielded:
9 - Mechanised Bde (+ 4 in reserve)
4 - Motorised Bde (+1 in reserve)
2 - Mountain Assault Bde
1 - Light Infantry Bde (+1 in reserve)
2 - Tank Bde (+3 in reserve)
Starting with the mechanised and motorised brigades, both have the same structure. What differs is the vehicle used by the infantry battalions. Mechanised battalions rely on the family of BMP vehicles, mainly BMP-1s/1AK and BMP-2s. Motorised battalions, however, are using the BTR platform. Therefore, the difference seems to lie in the type of vehicle used, with infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) being dedicated for mechanised troops while armoured personnel carriers (APC) are for motorised troops.
Mountain Assault brigades have a similar structure to mechanised brigades and seem to rely on the BMP for their Mountain Assault battalions. Additionally, the brigades have an additional Motorised battalion. It is unclear if this is specific to Mountain assault brigades or can also apply to Mechanised ones. In his video on Examining Ukraine’s Mech Infantry Doctrine, Battle Order explains that up to two motorised battalions have been added within Mechanised brigades, with at least one since 2016. This, however, is not specified in the 2021 manual.
Regarding tank brigades, the structure is naturally centred around the armour. Sources-wise, this structure is based on secondary sources and should be considered cautiously.
Battalions
Here again, mechanised and motorised battalions have a similar structure. There is one notable difference regarding the anti-tank platoon, which is absent in mechanised battalions. Motorised battalions have a dedicated AT platoon with two SPG-9 squads and two ATGM squads. This might compensate for the lack of AT firepower of BTRs, primarily of the 60/70 or 80 variants, according to Military Balance. Since mechanised battalions are based on the BMP platform, they hold significantly more direct firepower through the 73mn gun of the BMP-1 or the 30mn autocannon of the BMP-2 variants.
Tank battalions are naturally centred around their main battle tanks and hold no organic infantry units. Instead, an infantry company would attach to the tank battalion from the brigade level. Inversely, tank battalions within motorised, mechanised or mountain brigades can have their tank companies attached to their brigade’s infantry battalions.
Lastly are the artillery battalions. There are three main types of brigades in the AFU, which are based upon the type of platform they operate mainly, towed artillery, self-propelled artillery, or multi-rocket launch systems. The fire control platoon can be allocated to the brigade artillery group rather than directly within artillery battalions.
What’s left post-February 2022?
It’s worth pointing out that the structure presented here are general guidelines provided by Ukrainian military manual or are based upon secondary sources and might not represent the reality on the ground, especially back in 2016, 2018 and 2021 but even more so since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Since 2022, the structure itself has evolved with the arrival of mobilised personnel and volunteer. The need to generate more combat power has also transformed Ukrainian brigades, with many having between 5-7 infantry units instead of the original 3-4. Western-equipped brigades might also have a different structure. According to the US leaked intelligence documents, some brigades have been equipped with enough tanks for only two companies or enough artillery for one self-propelled artillery battalion.
The limited number of systems sent might cause this, but other western supplied weapons directly impacted how units were structured by their nature. The Javelin battery illustrates this. The AFU opted to centralise their Javelins in a battery, which could be under the anti-tank battalion or directly subordinated to brigade command. Javelin operators can then be disseminated to support infantry platoons and squads.
In the end, how much the Ukrainian force structure has and will evolve throughout the conflict remains to be seen.