The 154th Mechanized Brigade Has Some of Ukraine's Worst Equipment—And It's About To Fight Russia's Biggest Division

Say a prayer for a brigade riding in old BMP-1s

A 154th Mechanized Brigade T-64. 154th Mechanized Brigade photo

The Ukrainian general staff is scrambling to find units it can send to southern Donetsk Oblast to defend against a powerful Russian force led by the Russians’ biggest division: the 90th Tank Division.

The Russian Eastern Grouping of Forces, which includes the 90th Tank Division and a clutch of motor rifle brigades and regiments, has been steadily marching west since the start of the year—and is perilously close to forcing the rivers that buttress the positions of the Ukrainian 20th Army Corps in the region.

The 20th Army Corps is outnumbered and outgunned as the Ukrainians continue to prioritize the defense of Pokrovsk to the northeast. The corps’ most experience unit, the 72nd Mechanized Brigade, recently rotated off the front line for a badly needed period of rest and reset. One of the units that rotated onto the front line, the 110th Mechanized Brigade, is only slightly less exhausted.

The corps needs all the help it can get. Scrutinizing the Ukrainian ground forces’ sprawling order of battle, the general staff in Kyiv identified at least one unit that’s mostly intact, relatively well-rested and available to help in south Donetsk: the 154th Mechanized Brigade.