12th Operational Brigade
military unit

The 12th Brigade of Operational Assignment (12 BrOP — military unit 3057) was a military formation of the National Guard of Ukraine. It was part of the Eastern operational territorial association. It was based in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast.
The Brigade fought against Russian and Russian separatists during the Russo-Ukrainian war. The Azov Regiment was placed under the aegis of the 12th Brigade. After the Siege of Mariupol in 2022, most of the formation suffered heavy casualties, and in 2023 most of the survivors were transferred and reorganized into the 12th Special Purpose "Azov" Brigade.
History
Establishment
On January 18, 1990, the 129th Special Motorized Militia Battalion of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR (military unit 5509) was formed in Mariupol.
On January 2, 1992, the 10th Separate Battalion of the NGU (military unit 1041) was formed out of the 129th special motorized police battalion and integrated into the 4th Northern Division. In 1995, the battalion was transferred to the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and renamed the 17th Separate Special Motorized Battalion (military unit 3057).
Battle of Mariupol
In April 2014, the situation in the city of Mariupol became significantly complicated.
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This entry incorporates text from “12th Operational Brigade” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.