1st Mechanized Battalion

Full name: 1st Mechanized Battalion of the 3rd Assault Brigade

Ukrainian: 1-й механізований батальйон 3-ї штурмової бригади

Active:

August 30, 2022 – Today

Military Unit Number:

Linear unit

Kyiv

250 - 500 servicemen

Deeds, Not Words

Mechanized Infantry

Ukrainian Units › Ground Forces › 3rd Assault Brigade › 1st Mechanized Battalion

About Unit

1st Mechanized Battalion is a linear battalion of the 3rd Assault Brigade.

The battalion was created on the basis of the 98th Territorial Defense Battalion “Azov-Dnipro”, which had been formed after the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It was composed of members predominantly from the National Corps and the Centuria Movement, including former Azov veterans.

The 98th Territorial Defense Battalion was formed, with Rodion Kudryashov as its commander, and assigned to the 108th Territorial Defense Brigade. It was stationed in the town of Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia Oblast during the early months of the full-scale invasion.

In August of 2022, as part of the expansion of the Azov Special Purpose Regiment, which ultimately merged many Azov territorial defense units, the unit became the basis for the 1st Mechanized Battalion of the now called 3rd Assault Brigade; and began to carry out offensive operations in southern Kherson from September onwards in 2022.

The unit has participated in some of the most high-profile battles of the brigade, notably the Kherson counteroffensive and the battle of Bakhmut.

On March 14, 2025, the commander of the battalion, callsign “Bot”, was transferred to the position of brigade commander.

02/2022

98th Territorial Defense Battalion

creation of the unit

08/2022

1st Mechanized Battalion

reformation into 3rd Assault Brigade

Captain

Yaroslav Levenets

Going by the callsign “Bot”, he joined the Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer Corps in 2014. Later in 2015, as a volunteer with the Donbas Battalion, he participated in the Pavlopil-Shyrokyne offensive. In February 2022, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he joined Azov-SSO and took the lead in the separate reconnaissance platoon of the 1st Battalion. Later, as the unit was reformed into the 3rd Assault Brigade, he was appointed commander of the 1st Mechanized Battalion. In March 2025, he was appointed as the commander of the 3rd Assault Brigade, replacing Andriy Biletskyi, who became the commander of the 3rd Army Corps.