65th Separate Mechanized Brigade "Velykyi Luh"
ZAPORIZHZHIA
- Formed
- 2022
- Commander
- Colonel Volodymyr Polishchuk
- Axis
- Zaporizhzhia
- Photo archive
- 37 images
In early 2023, on some stretches, Ukrainian and Russian trenches were only about a hundred metres apart.
April 16, 2022 is the brigade's birthday. Nearly 95% of its personnel were volunteers from central and western Ukraine.
A pilot basic training programme started in the brigade on January 1, 2025, and a full BZVP course followed in May: new arrivals are now trained within the unit itself.
April 16, 2022 is the brigade's birthday. Nearly 95% of its personnel were volunteers from central and western Ukraine.
In early 2023, on some stretches, Ukrainian and Russian trenches were only about a hundred metres apart.
A pilot basic training programme started in the brigade on January 1, 2025, and a full BZVP course followed in May: new arrivals are now trained within the unit itself.
On April 16, 2022, weeks into the full-scale invasion, a new brigade began forming at the training center of the National Army Academy. Nearly 95% of its personnel were volunteers. By June 2022, after fourteen weeks of training, the brigade's readiness impressed even the commander of Ukraine's Ground Forces.
Deployed to the Zaporizhzhia axis that summer, the brigade took responsibility for a 90-kilometer stretch of front near Shcherbaky and Novoandriivka. Its first casualties came within weeks, under Grad rocket fire.
The defining chapter came in 2023: a 12-kilometer supply route toward the village of Robotyne, so exposed to enemy fire that soldiers simply called it "the road of death." On August 23, 2023 — Ukraine's Flag Day — the national flag rose over Robotyne's school building.
"It's an honor to be here today. To support our soldiers and honor them. On their shoulders rests a difficult, decisive mission — to push back the enemy and protect Ukraine. We are proud of our soldiers, thank you to every one of them."
— The President of Ukraine, during a visit to the brigade, February 2024
On December 20, 2024, a presidential decree granted the brigade its honorary name, "Velykyi Luh" ("Great Meadow") — after the legendary Zaporizhzhian floodplains that once sheltered the Cossacks.
The brigade still holds the Zaporizhzhia axis today. In January 2026, an underground stabilization point — soldiers call it the "emergency bunker" — opened near the front line, treating the most severe wounded from multiple units. The brigade has lost soldiers along the way, known to their comrades by callsigns that now belong to its history. It is currently commanded by Colonel Volodymyr Polishchuk.
Chronicle of the combat path
Symbols and traditions
The inscription "Pratum Magnum"
Historical continuity is reflected in the brigade's sleeve patch. The patch of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade "Velykyi Luh" is not simply an element of the uniform. It is a compressed language of symbols, in which memory of the Cossack era, the land of Zaporizhzhia, military honor and the present-day struggle are encoded. In the upper part of the patch is an inscription in Latin, "Pratum Magnum" — "Velykyi Luh." The Latin form gives the name a solemn, heraldic sound and at the same time underlines its historical weight.
By the numbers
servicemembers of the brigade have received state awards
Heroes of Ukraine, two of them posthumously
awarded the Order "For Courage," 2nd and 3rd class, 115 of them posthumously
warriors honored with the "Golden Cross" breast badge
"For Wounds" distinctions, 409 of them for a serious wound
of the staff was filled already at the formation stage (almost 95%)
defense sector the brigade took over on July 1, 2022
"the road of death" in the direction of Robotyne