New commander appointed for Ukraine's 72nd Mechanized Brigade defending Donbas
Colonel Oleksandr Okhrimenko has been appointed as the new commander of Ukraine's 72nd Black Zaporozhians Mechanized Brigade, replacing Ivan Vinnik, the brigade’s press service announced on Facebook on Oct. 7.
The brigade has been fighting in some of the hottest spots in Donbas for over two years under Vinnik's leadership, including in Bakhmut, Mykilske, Novomykhailivka, Vodyane, and Vuhledar.
"Colonel Oleksandr Okhrimenko will now lead the Black Zaporozhians into battle" the statement reads.
“New goals, tasks, objectives, and capabilities. The enemy will not have it easy.”
Vinnik was relieved of his command to be appointed to a higher position, the Northern Operational Command reported on Sept. 20.
The 72nd Mechanized Brigade held the line in the city of Vuhledar in Donetsk Oblast until Oct. 2, when an order was given to withdraw to avoid the encirclement of Ukrainian units.
The brigade's soldiers withdrew to a new defensive line and took up positions to continue resisting Russian invasion forces. The brigade has not had a rotation since August 2022.
About Oleksandr Okhrimenko
The 40-year-old Oleksandr Okhrimenko, according to open sources, has been defending his homeland since 2014. As part of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade, he fought on the border with Russia in Luhansk Oblast, near Chervonopartyzansk, and near Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast. In October 2021, he was appointed commander of the 14th Mechanized Brigade, based in Volodymyr in Volyn Oblast.
With the start of the full-scale invasion, under Okhrimenko's command, the brigade fought in Kyiv and Zhytomyr oblasts, Mykolaiv Oblast, and Donbas, liberating a significant part of Kharkiv Oblast from the Russians, according to public broadcaster Suspilne.
Then-Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi appointed Okhrimenko in July 2023 as the head of the Odesa Oblast Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support, replacing the controversial military commissar Yevhen Borysov.
Okhrimenko was appointed head of the department in the Directorate of Physical Culture and Physical and Sports Rehabilitation of the Ground Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in May 2024.
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