Shkval Battalion

Shkval Battalion is a linear unit of the 3rd Assault Brigade.

The battalion traces its origins to the expansion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in early 2024, which saw the minimum mobilization age lowered and introduced further recruitment efforts and mobilization of convicts into the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

As part of this new mobilization framework, Andriy Biletskyi, the then commander of the 3rd Assault Brigade, initiated the formation of a new battalion within the brigade, composed primarily of mobilized convicts.

He tasked the commander of the 2nd Assault Battalion, callsign “Slip”, to oversee the effort of raising the battalion. He conducted recruitment visits to correctional facilities and selected candidates suitable for entering the ranks of the battalion.

On June 24, 2024, the first convict entered the ranks of the battalion in the 3rd Assault Brigade, and approximately one year after recruitment began, the battalion was publicly acknowledged for the first time. By the time of its unveiling, the battalion reportedly had grown to an estimated strength of 1,000 personnel.

It received its official battalion chevron on May 6, 2025. The convicts, as part of the battalion, have seen action in multiple directions and fought alongside the majority of the brigade’s line battalions, predominantly the 1st Assault Battalion.

Insignia

The insignia follows brigade tradition with a pointed chevron in a black and grey tone. The central imagery of the insignia depicts a spear, with a circular barbed wire pattern nested around the bottom of the spear, symbolizing the composition of its ranks by former convicts who were mobilized into the Ukrainian military.