A failing Ukrainian brigade has become the army’s leader at coaxing its soldiers back. Over the past year, the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade cut unauthorized absences by 70% and now ranks first in the Ground Forces for troops returning to the ranks, after a new command team from the 3rd Army Corps took over a dispersed, position-losing unit, the corps said.

The turnaround is the second in a month to come out of the 3rd Army Corps, the Azov-founded formation whose bet on technology and junior-officer initiative rebuilt the 125th Brigade from 17% manning into a spearhead of Operation Vivaldi.

New command, one formation

In 2025 the brigade could not rebuild fast enough, its battalions fighting as scattered groups and losing positions, the corps said. In November, a new team led by a commander with the callsign Cherkas took over and folded those groups into a single combat-capable formation.

The bigger change, the corps said, was in people: sergeants built up as the backbone of the unit, young combat commanders handed units to lead, and the brigade’s doors kept open to anyone who wanted to join.

Robots it never had, and soldiers won back

The brigade had no ground robots at all until the new commander pushed to field them, and they now haul supplies and carry the wounded out, sparing troops the deadliest runs, according to the corps.

Air defense over its positions also works three times more effectively, it said, and the brigade’s own losses are falling while Russia’s hold steady.

The command culture is also what the corps credits for the manpower gains: soldiers trust the commanders, it said, so they come back, and the voluntary return of men who had left without leave, known in Ukraine as SZCh, has made the 53rd the Ground Forces’ leader in returns.

The brigade says it developed three times faster this year than ever before. The figures come from the brigade and the corps, and have not been independently verified.