Fighters of Chosen Company Form Tempest Group

In recent months, we have been monitoring the constant development of new units taking on foreigners in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In March 2025, we covered the creation of the Spanish Storm Battalion in the 3rd Assault Brigade, and a possible International Battalion – although it is possible that the latter may not exist in practicality, only on paper. We also recently reported on the formation of a Portuguese company within the brigade – Serpent Company, which has been confirmed since January 2025.

Formation of Tempest Group

Our contributors discovered the formation of a new foreign group within the 3rd Assault Brigade around late November 2024. Since then, additional imagery and information have surfaced to further confirm its existence, allowing us to add the unit page to the database. The new group is known as Tempest Group and has a very rich history that many who are familiar with international units will recognize.

The group, which is part of the Reconnaissance Battalion of the brigade, was formed on the basis of foreign volunteers who had split off from Chosen Company.

Chosen Company is a volunteer unit that was initially formed as the 312th Volunteer Company being composed entirely of Swedish volunteers. At the beginning of 2023, it changed its designation to Chosen Company, which is what it remains today. The unit at some point joined the 59th Motorized Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces at the time, and participated in several operations. It is notoriously known for its bloody operation in the Donetsk sector, particularly the village of Avdiivske, formerly known as Pervomaiske.

In late 2024, most probably around November and December, several soldiers of Chosen Company, notable figures include Khan and “Dirty P”, split off and formed a group in the Reconnaissance Battalion of the 3rd Assault Brigade.

The official reason for the split is currently unknown. The newly formed Temepst Group now seeks out recruits and, according to recruitment platforms, has high standards for those who seek to join their ranks.

The newly formed group is active on Instagram and even has its own unique insignia. The insignias were redrawn in high quality by myself, Davomme.

The first insignia featured a traditional Ground Forces-style chevron with a gray shield, and a purple-blue canvas. The top of the insignia included clouds with lightning bolts beneath it – a reference to the definition of the word Tempest, meaning a violent, windy storm. The central theme of the insignia saw a yellow abbreviation of the group in giant, bold letters.

The second insignia variant, which was updated in early April 2025, saw a complete shift from the previous insignia. The new insignia saw a complete overhaul, switching to the Azov style chevron, which is common throughout the 3rd Assault Brigade in black and gray. The central imagery of the insignia was a circular pattern of three hawks, suggesting a reconnaissance-based theme which could also resemble a spinning tornado, alluding back to its name.

Legacy of Chosen Company

Chosen Company continues to publish videos of its operations from 2023 through the International Legionnaire YouTube channel. However, Chosen Company, at some point in 2024, joined the 49th Special Purpose Detachment, which is a component of Special Group Alpha.

Ryan O’Leary, the commander of Chosen Company, stated on X (formerly Twitter) the following:

“For those that don’t know Chosen has slowly changed from an assault unit into a hybrid drone/assault unit. Each soldier must be competent in all roles for fixed, copter, and Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) platforms & staying competent on assaulting when needed.”

The future for Chosen Company appears to be ambitious from the perspective of Ryan O’Leary, it is uncertain how active and what operations it will be involved in, however, little information will probably be expected due to its new subordination.