About the existence of 38th Artillery Brigade

38th Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces was established in 2018 in Zhytomyr Oblast with support from specialists and experienced troops of the 26th Artillery Brigade.

In March 2018, the unit was assigned its permanent base in Popilnia, Zhytomyr Oblast. However, this was the last time it was mentioned for quite some time. The brigade did not appear in reports in 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion, leading to speculation that it had been demobilized and existed only on paper.

However, in 2023, several volunteers and social media groups began collecting aid and requesting donations for soldiers of the 38th Artillery Brigade. The high number of requests suggested that the brigade was active at some point during the year. By late 2023, though, the brigade once again disappeared from public mention, and no further updates have surfaced since.

We reached out to Ukrainian officials for a comment on the existence of the 38th Artillery Brigade and received a response from the acting commander of the Artillery and Missile Troops, Col. Vitaly Mieshko. He stated that an entity named the 38th Artillery Brigade currently does not exist within the Armed Forces of Ukraine, confirming that the brigade has been disbanded.

This comes as no surprise. Given the number of mechanized brigades formed in 2023 and 2024, it is highly likely that the personnel of the 38th Artillery Brigade were used as the replenishment for artillery groups within these newly established units.