21st Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade

The 21st Guards Red Banner Omsk-Novobug Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Motorized Rifle Brigade, or simply the 21st Guards Motor Rifle Brigade was a formation of the Russian Ground Forces based in Orenburg Oblast. It was formed on 1 June 2009 from the 27th Guards Motor Rifle Division as a result of the 2008 Russian military reform.^[1]

21st Guards Red Banner Omsk-Novobug Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Motorized Rifle Brigade
Russian: 21-я отдельная гвардейская Краснознаменная Омско-Новобугская ордена Богдана Хмельницкого мотострелковая бригада
21st Guards Motor Rifle Brigade shoulder sleeve insignia
Active	2009–2024
Country	Russia
Branch	Russian Ground Forces
Type	Motorized Infantry
Size	Brigade
Part of	2nd Guards Combined Arms Army, Central Military District
Garrison/HQ	Totskoye, Orenburg Oblast MUN 12128
Engagements	War in Donbas • Battle of Ilovaisk Russian invasion of Ukraine
Commanders
Current commander	Colonel Dmitri Zavyalov (as of 2019)

In 2014, the brigade was involved in the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.^[2] In the spring of 2024, the 27th Guards Motorized Rifle Division was revived and 21st Brigade disbanded.^[3]

History

In August 2014, the brigade's units fought in the Battle of Ilovaisk. On 29 August, during a Ukrainian breakthrough attempt from Ilovaisk, a "northern" column of Ukrainian forces took the fight with 21st brigade's troops on a road between Voznesenka and Horbatenko villages.^[4] A Ukrainian T-64 tank and several BMP-2s of 51st Mechanized Brigade were able to destroy two T-72BA tanks^[5][6][7] and a BMP-2^[8] of the 21st Motor Rifle Brigade. Another 21st brigade's T-72BA tank was destroyed near Kumachove village, presumably by a Tochka-U missile strike of the 19th Missile Brigade.^[9]

A Ukrainian Headquarters briefing held on 11 March 2015 noted the 21st Motor Rifle Brigade units are operating near Yenakiieve, Ukraine.^[10]

Bodies of soldiers, reportedly from the division, which were killed in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine near Rusaniv [uk] were among six that were to be swapped for two captured Ukrainian soldiers in an exchange in March 2022.^[11]

2024

Becoming 27th Motor Rifle Division as of April 2024, consisting of: ^[12]

• 433rd Motor Rifle Regiment,
• 506th Motor Rifle Regiment,
• 589th Motor Rifle Regiment,
• 268th self-propelled artillery regiment,
• 1107th separate anti-tank artillery division,
• 838th separate anti-aircraft missile division,
• 907th separate reconnaissance battalion,
• 1614th separate engineer battalion,
• 834th separate communications battalion,
• 140th separate logistics battalion,
• 341st separate medical battalion

Commanders

• Colonel Andrey Sergeevich TRIFONOV ^[13]