Putin names three Russian regiments after Ukrainian cities
Russian President Vladimir Putin named three Russian regiments Lviv, Zhytomyr, and Nizhyn. The 6th Tank Regiment of the Russian Army is now bearing the honorary title of the Lviv Regiment, the 68th Tank Regiment is the Zhytomyr Regiment, and the 163rd Panzer Regiment is the Nizhyn Regiment.
Putin’s decree is published on Russian government’s portal of legal information. The decree was signed on June 30, 2018, and has already gone into effect.
As noted by RBK, the names of Ukrainian cities are included in the honorary names of the regiments in memory of the participation of the units in the liberation of those cities during the Second World War.In particular, the honorary name “Zhytomyr” was assigned to the 93rd separate tank brigade, on the basis of which the 68th regiment was later created “to commemorate the victory and distinguished service in the battles for the liberation of the city of Zhytomyr.” The order for this was signed by Joseph Stalin on January 1, 1944. After the collapse of the USSR, the 68th Regiment was dissolved, but in 2017 it was restored.
Some military units of the Russian army were also given honorific titles that incorporate names of Belarusian cities: Vitebsk (the 90th Vitebsk-Novgorod guards tank division), Kobrin (the 856th Kobrin guards self-propelled artillery regiment), Slonim (the 102nd Slonim-Pomerania motorized rifle regiment), as well as the name of the capital of Poland (the 381st Warsaw Guards Artillery Regiment). In addition, the 400th self-propelled artillery regiment was given the honorific title “Transylvania,” the 144th motorized rifle division was named “Yelnya Guards,” the 150th motorized rifle division was named “Idritsa-Berlin,” and the 933rd anti-aircraft missile regiment was given the name “Verkhnedneprovsky.”