[3] The designation of the 159th was reused for a division formed in July 1940 in the Kiev Special Military District,[3] under the command of Colonel Ivan Mashchenko, appointed on the 29th.

The division was then tasked with moving to Volochysk to defend positions there with a tank unit and slow down the German advance.

The division later defended Kaniv for fifteen days against the German advance and covered the crossing of the Dnieper by the 5th Cavalry Corps.

In mid-September Semyonov went to the army staff,[7] and was succeeded on 16 September by Colonel Nikolay Fedotov, deputy commander of another division.

In the Battle of Kiev in late September the 159th was destroyed in encirclement with most of the 26th Army, with its commander being reported missing.

[8] According to one of the army's last reports, on 22 September, the 159th was fighting in encirclement at Kandybovka northwest of Orzhytsia, and repeated breakout attempts had failed.