81st Airmobile Brigade

81st Airmobile Brigade is a unit of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces.

The brigade was formed in October 2014, on the basis of elements of the basis of the 25th Airborne, 80th Airmobile, and 95th Airmobile Brigades.

The combat flag was presented to the brigade by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on August 24, 2015.

Since November 2014, the unit has participated in the battles of Donetsk Airport, for which they endured fighting for 242 days, and continued with the defense of Opytne and Vodyane. Then, individual subunits of the brigade were redirected to participate in fighting around Debaltseve, helping to help minimalize during the exit from encirclement.

Later in January 2016, the brigade helped to perform combat missions near Zaysevo near Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast, after which they helped to participate in the defense of Novhorod. After, they endured eight months of continuous fighting in the industrial zone at Avdiivka, and in December 2026, they were redeployed to the Svitlodar Arc.

For the protection of the Donetsk Airport named after Prokofiev’s highest state award of Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine were awarded to three servicemen of the brigade: soldier Branovytskyi Ihor Yevhenovich, junior sergeant Ihor Viktorovych Zinich, and senior lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Zubkov. posthumously.

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the brigade immediately began to stand in defense of settlements such as Izyum, Dolyna, Hulyaipole, Rubizhne, Lysychansk, Severodonetsk, Sumy, and others.

Soldiers of the 5th Battalion Tactical Group were the first to engage against Russian Forces in the city of Sumy on February 24, 2022, destroying enemy columns on the outskirts of the city and preventing the enemy from establishing the Russian flag over the city council. Later, units held the defense of the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk directions.

At the end of February, the 90th Airmobile Battalion, under the brigade’s jurisdiction, was named after the Hero of Ukraine, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Zubkov, who heroically defended the settlements of Izyum and Dolyna in Kharkiv Oblast.

The 122nd Airmobile Battalion, formerly under the jurisdiction of the brigade, was the first to meet Russian forces in the cities of Bilovodsk and Svatove in Luhansk Oblast.

Insignia

The insignia depicts a traditional chevron divided diagonally into maroon and blue fields with a silver border. The maroon represents the Air Assault Forces, the blue symbolizes glory, honor, and loyalty, while the silver symbolizes purity, wisdom, and nobility. At its center is a griffon, combining the eagle and the lion, symbolizing the formation’s lineage formed from the 80th Air Assault Brigade and 95th Air Assault Brigade. In its talons is a flaming sword, the weapon of Archangel Michael, symbolizing courage and readiness to defend.