The Ukrainian Marine Corps (, ), also known simply as the Ukrainian Marines (), is the maritime land force service branch of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2023, responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations. From its modern foundation in 1993 up to 2023 it constituted part of the Coastal Forces of the Ukrainian Navy. It is used as a component part of amphibious, airborne and amphibious-airborne operations, alone or in coordination with formations and units of the Ground Forces in order to capture parts of the seashore, islands, ports, fleet bases, coast airfields and other coast objects from the enemy. It can also be used to defend naval bases, vital shoreline areas, separate islands and coast objects, and security of hostile areas.Structure of Ukrainian Armed Forces
Mission The Marine Corps's principal missions are to:
Act independently during attacks on enemy naval installations, ports, islands and coastal areas Clear the enemy's coastal areas & provide amphibious landing elements and security forces in support of its own mission or with elements of the Ground Forces and other uniformed organizations (since 2023) provide, alongside the Navy, the country's coastal defense capabilities against enemy shipping and enemy amphibious attacks"Військо України"
Its motto is Вірний завжди! ("Always Faithful!") .
History The Marine Corps is descended from the formations of the Black Sea Fleet Naval Infantry of the former Imperial Russian Navy.
Hetmanate Former Russian Imperial army general Pavlo Skoropadskyi understood the importance of naval infantry in providing security to the country. Being the commander-in-chief of land and naval forces, Skoropadskyi brought attention to creating the naval infantry during his first month in power. On May 23, 1918, he ordered the Department of Navy to Begin forming a Brigade of naval infantry consisting of three regiments.Морська Держава :: Головна сторiнка - Анонси A long way to the sea: Marines of the Ukrainian People's Republic, Istorychna Pravda (29 April 2021)
The mission of the Naval Infantry was protecting coastal areas, serving as a garrison force for forts and conducting landing operations. According to the order the Brigade was divided into three regiments. First regiment was responsible for the areas between the western border until the village of Suchavka, near Odesa. Second regiment was responsible for territory between Suchavka and Stanislavov. Third regiment protected the areas from Stanislavov until Perekop. Brigade was also put in charge of guarding the property of the Navy Department.
Each of the three regiments consisted of three kurins. Each kurin consisted of three Sotnia and a machine gun unit. Commandant of the first regiment was .
On August 31, 1918, each unit was given the permanent headquarters. First regiment's HQ was located in Odesa, second's HQ in Mykolaiv and third's HQ in Kherson. Also at this time 3 squadrons of cavalry were formed. First was stationed in Odesa, second in Ochakiv and third in Perekop.
In October 1918 new recruits born in 1899, would have joined the ranks of the naval infantry, however due to the political situation of that autumn the recruits had to wait until a better time.
Ukrainian People's Republic
Not long after, Pavlo Skoropadskyi was removed from power in an uprising led by Symon Petliura. The Naval Infantry continued to faithfully serve their nation under the banner of the Ukrainian People's Republic. A prominent organizer of Ukrainian marine troops during the period of Ukrainian War of Independence was the former minister of naval affairs, Mykhailo Bilinskyi. In April 1919 the 1st Ukrainian Marine Division was created under Bilynskyi's command. The unit included a naval infantry regiment composed of Hutsuls from the outskirts of Kolomyia, many of whom had earlier served in the Austro-Hungarian Navy and who were recruited due to their lower tolerance to Communist ideas. The unit was distinguished by its black uniforms worn both by officers and by regular marines, and the servicemen's equipment involved naval dirks.
Bilynskyi's regiment took part in the successful First Winter Campaign of Ukrainian forces, but following the retreat across the Zbruch river its soldiers were placed in internment camps. Following the Treaty of Riga, the unit entered Bolshevik-controlled Ukraine as part of the Second Winter Campaign in order to raid the territory and encourage an anti-Moscow uprising. On 12 November 1921 Bilynskyi was wounded at the head of his troops while crossing the river Teteriv, and on 17 November Ukrainian forces were defeated in a battle at Mali Minky by the cavalry of Grigory Kotovsky. Surrounded by the enemy, Bilynskyi committed suicide to evade capture. This signified the last armed attempt to achieve Ukraine's independence during that war. In modern Ukraine a naval infantry brigade has been named after Bilynskyi.
Modern history
On February 22, 1992, the 880th Separate Naval Infantry Battalion of the Black Sea Fleet commanded by Major Vitaliy Rozhmanov pledged their allegiance to Ukraine.
After the Navy was created on July 1, 1993, as a separate service branch of the Armed Forces, the first battalion of the Naval Infantry was formed in the city of Sevastopol.Морская пехота - состав и дислокация ч2 The first naval infantrymen were transferred from the airmobile units. On September 1, 1993, the 41st Separate Naval Infantry Battalion was formed. By September 20, 1994, the 4th Naval Infantry Brigade was stationed in the Tylove village of Crimea.
From May 1996 until 1998, the Brigade was a part of the Ukrainian National Guard. In 1998, it was transferred to the Navy and re-designated the 1st Separate Naval Infantry Brigade. In 1999, the Brigade consisted of two battalions numbering 1,500 marines. During 2003–04, the Ukrainian armed forces underwent a program to reduce the number of brigades, and the Naval Infantry Brigade was reduced to a Battalion.
The command of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine made a decision to form a new Naval Infantry battalion by force of a mechanised battalion located in Kerch. In December 2013 the militaries of the new 501st Separate Naval Infantry Battalion have taken the Naval Infantry Oath.
The 1st Separate Naval Infantry Battalion was under the jurisdiction of the 36th Separate Coastal Defense Brigade, and it was stationed in Feodosiya and there was also another one battalion (501st Bn.) which was stationed in Kerch; both were in the Crimea until late March 2014.
Special reconnaissance units of the Marine Corps were deployed against insurgents during the 2014 war in Donbas. Oleksandr Zinchenko of the 73rd Spetsnaz Detachment was the first Ukrainian Marine killed during the war in Donbas. The Ukrainian Marine Corps was particularly hard hit by the Russian annexation of Crimea as all of their forces except for the 73rd Spetsnaz Detachment were stationed on the peninsula, due to this the unit had to undergo extensive reorganization before being able to be deployed to the war in the Donbas. After the annexation of Crimea there were only 200 marines left in the Ukrainian Naval Infantry, members of the 1st Marine Battalion who had been led by Lieutenant Colonel Dmytro Delyatytskyi out of Crimea to Mykolaiv.
In September 2014 the Ministry of Defense announced that the Marine Corps were reforming from the Russian annexation of Crimea and the remaining members of the 1st Marine Battalion which was stationed in Feodosya would take an active part in the war in Donbas. On 29 October 2014 Ukraine's Marine Corps conventional forces, recently recovered from the annexation of Crimea suffered their first casualty near Mariupol, the Marine was a Major and was killed when his unit's position came under Russian artillery fire.
On 8 November 2014 Ukrainian marines returned to their permanent place of deployment in Mykolaiv as part of a regular rotation of Ukrainian forces during the war in Donbas. Also that year, 16 November was made the official holiday of the Ukrainian naval infantry, because that was when the first oath of office was taken by Ukrainian marines in 1992. The holiday remained on that date until 2018.
In 2016 the Odesa Military Academy began training the first class of Naval Infantry officers. Prior to this, there was no specific training institution for marine officers, who came from other branches of service, such as the Ukrainian Ground Forces or the Airmobile Forces. Because of the shortage of officers in the Naval Infantry some of the cadets at the academy that were training to become Airmobile Forces officers were offered courses to become marine officers instead. In 2018 the first twelve of these cadets graduated as Marine Corps lieutenants.
In January 2018 it was reported that the Ukrainian government planned to create a Marine Corps to place all Naval Infantry and Coastal Artillery units of the Ukrainian Navy under one command. At this time it was not a separate branch but part of the Naval Forces. As of January 2018 the Coastal and Territorial Defense Forces of the Navy included the 36th Marine Brigade in Mykolaiv, 137th Separate Marine Battalion in Dachne, Odesa Oblast, the 406th Marine Artillery Brigade in Mykolaiv, and the 32nd Separate Artillery Regiment in Altestove, Odesa Oblast. The Naval Infantry were commanded by Colonel Serhii Tartakovskyi. The creation of the Marine Corps Command was a step towards bringing the Ukrainian Navy into line with NATO structures. On 22 February 2018, Decree No.39/2018 of the President of Ukraine established the Marine Corps Command.
On 23 May 2018, the NI celebrated the first Marine Corps Birthday celebrations, the holiday being officially sanctioned by President Petro Poroshenko as part of a nationalization of the former Soviet holidays, replacing those with the ones celebrating Ukrainian military history. The holiday marked the formation of the first marine units in May 1918, during the Ukrainian War of Independence. New colours were awarded incorporating the speciality badge awarded to the unit in 2007. The NI was transformed into the Fleet Marine Division with 2 brigades and an independent brigade of marine artillery. The former black berets were changed to light green following the practice of the British Royal Marines and the Italian Army Lagunari.
Expansion The new colours include the blue cross from the naval ensign as an acknowledgement of its role as a constituent service of the Navy. Plans are underway for the formation of a 3rd Marine brigade, bringing the total number of brigades to four plus one MRL regiment, with an option for a fourth brigade.
Reform The ideal goal in the reform of the Marine Corps is to form a unit which would be similar to the units sent to Iraq. It is planned that there will be no more conscripts in the Corps, only professional naval infantrymen under contract service.
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine With the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Naval Infantry fought against Russian forces invading the country. They are active at the southern regions of Ukraine, having participated at the Southern Ukraine and Eastern Ukraine campaigns.
As of early 2022 the Ukrainian Marines had 7,000 troops organized in two brigades, six separate battalions battalions, and a separate reconnaissance battalion.
Siege of Mariupol