Ukraine is forming a new mechanized brigade of the Ground Forces.
Ukrainian Army is being expanded by a new brigade, 44th Mechanized Brigade. The unit is currently at the stage of formation. As photos on social media suggest, it’s one of the Polish-trained Ukrainian brigades.
insignia of 44th Mechanized Brigade
The brigade received military number A4723 and at least one battalion is equipped with Polish-donated BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles.
The unit has been added to our database – 44th Mechanized Brigade, where you can also find more photos.
Can we assume that Ukraine now has about 78 regular brigades (49 ground infantry, 5 armored, 10 air assault, 4 marine, 9 national guard) and plus-minus 30 territorial brigades? That is 500.000 combat ready soldiers compared to russian 370.000 (ukranian official data).
+Border guards, +military police forces, + special operations forces from SBU and GUR, + International Legion.
So, Ukraine has announced the formation of 23 new brigades:
Mechanized: 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 33, 41, 42, 43, 44, 47, 88, 116, 117, 118
Marine: 37, 38
Artillery: 47, 48, 49
13 jager , 82 air assault, 142 reserve
+8 offensive guard brigades
I still don’t see how they can find enough equipment for all those brigades, but if they could, it is a formidable force for the counteroffenive.
I am guessing they are going for a more infantry and motorized based army, which is strange because compared to the Russians they should be having a surplus of tanks. What I am most curious about is the situation with artillery equipment as well as the supply of shells. Will it be enough for the counter-offensive?
At least I do not see the point of announcing more than you actually form. But I am also pretty sure that many are planned to be equipped later… I am hearing 8 or 9 brigades are ready for the counteroffensive now. Is that a confirmed number?
According to the Pentagon leaks, there are 9 new brigades trained by NATO countries and 3 by Ukraine. One of those 3 (88th mechanized) is already on the frontline, (see Jerome’s twitter). Ukraine may have trained more than 3 brigades.
There’s also one full mechanized brigade equiped and trained by Sweden.
So there should be 13 new brigades ready. Maybe more.
Some sources indicate that there are 10-12 of them. Approximately 40 thousand men are ready for assault actions
Well, the swedish brigade may or may not count as NATO. There also may be countries that do not like to telegraph things, Finnland and Poland come to mind. Anyways, under equipped brigades are better than none and you do need brigades for rotation and holding the frontline. This war will take a long time, so getting ready for sustainable rotation and 2024 is a must.
There are also ca. 100 Leo 1 and 31 Abrams in the pipeline and I heard where those Abrams and Bradley’s come from are even more. There are also more Leo 2s and 1s around so I can see the gear, but the training and maintenance is probably the even bigger problem. So they may get equipped, by the end of the year…