, image = 17th tank brigade insignia daily.svg , image_size = 200 , caption = 17th Tank Brigade shoulder sleeve insignia , dates = 1940present , country =
(19401991)

(1991present) , allegiance = , branch =

Ground Forces An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, type =

Armoured Forces Armoured warfare or armored warfare (mechanized forces, armoured forces or armored forces) (American English; see spelling differences), is the use of armored fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a major component of modern methods of ...

, role = Armoured , size =

Brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. Br ...

, command_structure =

Operational Command East Operational Command East (OC East) is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces in eastern Ukraine. Its headquarters is currently located in Dnipro. History When Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1992, there were three Sovie ...

, garrison =

Kryvyi Rih Kryvyi Rih ( uk, Криви́й Ріг , lit. "Curved Bend" or "Crooked Horn"), also known as Krivoy Rog (Russian: Кривой Рог) is the largest city in central Ukraine, the 7th most populous city in Ukraine and the 2nd largest by area. Kr ...

А3283 , motto = , march = , mascot = , patron = Konstantin Pestushko , battles =

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

War in Donbass War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

* Battle of Kharkiv
*

Battle of the Siverskyi Donets The battle of the Siverskyi Donets was a series of military engagements which took place in May 2022, most notably from 5 to 13 May, on the Lyman–Sievierodonetsk front of the battle of Donbas. It was part of the wider eastern Ukraine offen ...

Battle of Bakhmut The Battle of Bakhmut is an ongoing series of military engagements in and near the city of Bakhmut between Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Russian Armed Forces during the larger battle for Donbas. Shelling of Bakhmut began in May 2022, but the ...

, anniversaries = , battle_honours =

, decorations = , notable_commanders = , current_commander = Lt. Col. Oleksandr Tarnavskiy The 17th Tank Brigade is a formation of the

Ukrainian Ground Forces The Ukrainian Ground Forces ( uk, Сухопу́тні військá Збрóйних сил Украї́ни), also known as the Ukrainian Army, are the Army, land forces of Ukraine and one of the five Military branch, branches of the Armed For ...

. The full name of the Brigade is the 17th Separate Kryvyi Rih Tank Brigade named after Konstantin Pestushko. It was formerly known as 17th Guards Tank Division. The Brigade is located in

History

The current unit's history stems from the 174th Rifle Division, which became the 20th Guards Rifle Division in 1942.
The 174th Rifle Division fought, as part of the 22nd Army, in the

Polotsk defensive Polotsk (russian: По́лоцк; be, По́лацк, translit=Polatsk (BGN/PCGN), Polack (official transliteration); lt, Polockas; pl, Połock) is a historical city in Belarus, situated on the Dvina River. It is the center of the Polotsk Dist ...

operation where it escaped encirclement. In the winter it fought first in the defensive and later counteroffensive operations in the

Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January ...

. ''For the courage, fortitude and heroism shown by the personnel of the formation in battles against the Nazi invaders,'' she was awarded the honorary title of “Guards” and was transformed into the 20th Guards Rifle Division (17 March 1942). The 20th Guards Rifle Division fought at the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...

, Krivoi Rog, Odessa, Budapest, and Vienna. It was with the 57th Army of the

3rd Ukrainian Front The 3rd Ukrainian Front (Russian: Третий Украинский фронт) was a Front of the Red Army during World War II. It was founded on 20 October 1943, on the basis of a Stavka order of October 16, 1943, by renaming the Southwester ...

in May 1945. The history of the postwar 17th Guards Tank Division traces back to the 20th Guards Rifle Division which was active in 1945. It became the 25th Guards Mechanized Division in 1945, and in 1957 37th Guards Tank Division at Constanza with the 1st Guards Army. The division moved to Kryvyi Rih in 1958 and was subordinated to the

6th Guards Army The 6th Guards Army was a Soviet Guards formation which fought against Nazi Germany during World War II under the command of General Ivan Chistyakov. The Army's chief of staff was General Valentin Antonovich Penkovskii. The 6th Guards Army was ...

. In 1960, its 69th Separate Tank Training Battalion was disbanded. On 19 February 1962 the Missile Battalion and the 129th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery Battalion was activated. On 11 January 1965 the 37th became the 17th Guards Tank Division, a designation it would retain until the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1968 the 26th Separate Guards Sapper Battalion became an engineer-sapper battalion. The 44th Separate Chemical Defence Battalion was activated from the chemical defence company in 1972. The 1055th Separate Material Supply Battalion was formed from the separate motor transport battalion. In June 1989, the 1158th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment was transferred to East Germany, and was replaced by the 1069th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment of the 47th Guards Tank Division. The 25th and 92nd Tank Regiments of the mobilization 58th Tank Division replaced the division's 216th Guards and 224th Tank Regiments in June 1990. During the Cold War, the division was maintained at 60% strength. Still designated a tank division as of Decree N 350/93 (21 August 1993), when Colonel Ivan Svidi, Commander of the 17th Tank Division,

6th Army Corps 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

Odessa Military District The Odesa Military District (russian: Одесский военный округ, ОВО; , abbreviated ) was a military administrative division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 1998 most of its territory was transformed into the Southern Operat ...

, became a major-general. In accordance with Decree 925/98, of 23 August 1998, Division commander Serhiy Andriyovych Harbuz was promoted to Major General. In September 2003 the division was downsized into a brigade. After the

was disbanded in 2013, the brigade became part of

. On 18 November 2015 its honorifics "Red Banner Order of Suvorov" were removed as part of an Armed Forces-wide removal of Soviet awards and honorifics. The Kryvyi Rih battle honour, through, remained because Kryvyi Rih is located in Ukraine. On 22 August 2016, its Guards title was removed. 15 personnel from the brigade were awarded state orders and decorations for actions of bravery under the colours in the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...

to date. During the

Second Battle of Donetsk Airport A part of the ongoing war in the Donbas region of Ukraine, the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport began on 28 September 2014. An earlier battle in May 2014 had left Donetsk International Airport in Ukrainian control. Despite a ceasefire agreem ...

, the word cyborg ( uk, кіборг) was used to refer to the Ukrainian defenders of the airport. It was first applied to these soldiers online, and spread from there into the Ukrainian media. It refers to the way that the airport defenders were able to fend off constant attacks by DPR forces in close quarters with little sleep or support, just as science-fiction

cyborgs A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.

are "indestructible half-men, half-machines", or "superhuman". The cyborgs have become part of Ukrainian national mythos, and are cast in a "near-legendary light" amongst many Ukrainians. The term "cyborg" is usually applied to the following units: 3rd Spetsnaz Regiment, 93rd Mechanised Brigade, 79th Airmobile Brigade, 17th Tank Brigade, and the Right Sector volunteer battalion.

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

During the

, the brigade participated in the Battle of Kharkiv. On 8–11 May 2022, in the Battle of Siverskyi Donets, the artillery from the 17th Tank Brigade destroyed an entire Russian

battalion tactical group A battalion tactical group (russian: Батальонная тактическая группа, ''batal'onnaya takticheskaya gruppa''), abbreviated as BTG, is a combined-arms manoeuvre unit deployed by the Russian Army that is kept at a high lev ...

Current Structure

As of 2017 the brigade's structure is as follows: * 17th Tank Brigade,

** Headquarters & Headquarters Company ** 1st Tank Battalion ** 2nd Tank Battalion ** 3rd Tank Battalion ** Mechanized Battalion ** Brigade Artillery Group *** Headquarters & Target Acquisition Battery *** Self-propelled Artillery Battalion ( 2S3 Akatsiya) *** Self-propelled Artillery Battalion (

2S1 Gvozdika The 2S1 ''Gvozdika'' (russian: link=no, 2С1 «Гвоздика», "Carnation") is a Soviet self-propelled howitzer based on the MT-LBu multi-purpose chassis, mounting a 122 mm 2A18 howitzer. "2S1" is its GRAU designation. An alternative Rus ...

) *** Rocket Artillery Battalion (

BM-21 Grad The BM-21 "Grad" (russian: БМ-21 "Град", lit= hail) is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union. The system and the M-21OF rocket were first developed in the early 1960s, and saw their first comba ...

) ** Anti-Aircraft Missile Artillery Battalion ** Engineer Battalion ** Maintenance Battalion ** Logistic Battalion ** Reconnaissance Company ** Sniper Company **

Electronic Warfare Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...

Company ** Signal Company ** Radar Company ** CBRN-defense Company ** Medical Company ** Brigade Band

Past commanders

* Nikolay Mikhaylovich Dreyer – 25 February 1944 – April 1945 * Lieutenant Colonel Oleksandr Tarnavskiy – temporary commander 2007

Decorations

Order of Suvorov The Order of Suvorov () is a military decoration of the Russian Federation named in honor of Russian Generalissimo Prince Alexander Suvorov (1729–1800). History The Order of Suvorov was originally a Soviet award established on July 29, 1942 ...

(removed) *

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...

(removed) * 15 individual state medals for valor during the

References

* {{Soviet Union divisions Brigades of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Military units and formations of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Armoured brigades of Ukraine History of Kryvyi Rih Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner Military units and formations of Ukraine in the war in Donbas Military units and formations established in 2003