It is an all volunteer Battalion with its personnel being the former members of Maidan Defense and other paramilitary groups established by the Ukrainian opposition during the Revolution of Dignity.

On 14 March 2014, about 500 volunteers from Maidan Self-Defense became reservists of the newly established National Guard of Ukraine, and went to Novi Petrivtsi and started training at the headquarters of the former Bars Regiment as the 1st Reserve Battalion.

[1] The training and coordination was directly managed by Major General Serhii Kulchytskyi, commander of the National Guard and Andriy Antonyshchak from the Maidan Defense Headquarters.

Several hundred Maidan residents come to the training ground, the vast majority of whom survived the events of February 18–20.

The platoon commander of the 1st reserve battalion Oleksandr Wendyuk stated:The main thing is that we learned to act as one unit.

Then the Battalion went to Pavlograd and then to Izium to take part in the Siege of Sloviansk[6] during which on 9 May 2024, a soldier of the brigade (Ihor Volodymyrovych Geisun) was killed in his vehicle by separatists.

[8] By 16 May, 270 volunteers had arrived for the creation of the 2nd battalion under the coordinator Andriy Tiron,[9][10] who completed their training and took oath and we to the ATO zone to take part in the Battle of Kramatorsk and Siege of Sloviansk.

[12] On 24 May 2014, during the Siege of Sloviansk, separatists launched an armed attack on the checkpoint of the National Guard on the eastern outskirts of Sloviansk, near the intersection of the roads to Krasny Liman and Kramatorsk, the engagement lasted 2 hours involving the use of mortars and grenade launchers in addition to small arms during the engagement a soldier of the battalion (Zinchyk Stanislav Mykhailovych) was killed and some personnel were wounded as well.

[13] The Battalion also received high support from right-wing and ultranationalist parties with Ukrainian National Alliance stating:All of Ukraine is represented in our military unit.

[16] On 5 July 2014, Chief of Staff of the 2nd Reserve Battalion, Andriy Ivchenko, stated:I went almost to the center of the city with intelligence.

We removed the Russian tricolor from the central barricade of Sloviansk and raised our Ukrainian flag with the inscription Second Battalion.

[14] On 28 August 2014, during the Battle of Debaltseve, the retreating convoy including that of the brigade was ambushed by separatists killing five soldiers (Fedir Valeriyovych Ukharskyi,[27] Andrii Ivanovych Tyshchenko,[28] Mykola Mykolayovych Matvienko,[29] Kurmashev Oleksiy Vasyliovych[30] and Doga Oleg Vyacheslavovych[30]) of the brigade and wounding 19 more.

[31] In August 2014, Arsen Avakov stated that ten thousand law enforcement officers were engaged in the ATO zone including volunteers such as those of the battalion.

[34] The battalion also performed combat support operations during the Battle of Mariupol during which on 5 September 2014 separatists attacked a column of Ukrainian forces arriving to Mariupol, near Boikivske,[35] and a soldier of the Battalion (Eremenko Viktor Viktorovych) who was severely wounded during the attack died soon after on 11 September.

[37] Ukrainian columnist, Yuriy Butusov noted :Two battalions of volunteers of the National Guard, made up entirely of Maidan activists, were created to perform the tasks of maintaining public order in Donbas.

[42] On 12 December 2014, personnel of the battalion detained a passenger car in Popasna attempting to smuggle one million hryvnias.

[43][44] On 26 December 2014, the operative group of the battalion detained a resident of the Donetsk Oblast on suspicions of being a separatist, further search showed that she was amongst the organizers of the 2014 Donbas status referendums, RGD-5 grenades, combat equipment, weapons and propaganda leaflets were confiscated.

13 soldiers of the brigade (Skrut Rostyslav Stefanovych,[46] Maxim Yuriyovych Shchipov,[47] Panteleimon Petrovych Rozhanskyi,[48] Didach Ihor Yosypovych,[49] Roman Mykhailovych Sokach[50] Volodymyr Anatoliyovych Matkivskyi,[51] Malyuta Roman Volodymyrovych,[52] Linyvenko Yury Volodymyrovych,[53] Ihor Valentynovych Kaplunenko,[54] Roman Valentinovych Zubchuk,[55] Burka Victor Pavlovich,[56] Gerasimyuk Taras Pavlovich[57] and Serhiy Ihorovych Babichev[58]) and further wounding 21 personnel of the battalion.

[59][60] On 27 January 2018, at lunchtime a soldier of the Battalion (Slyvka Myroslav Mykolayovych) was killed while performing a combat mission in Verkhnyotoretske near Horlivka as a result of sniper fire.

[61][62] On 22 March 2018, a soldier of the battalion (Myron Yaroslavovich Klymiuk) was killed on the frontlines in the ATO zone under undisclosed circumstances.

[63] On 11 October 2020, a veteran of the Battalion, Mykola Mykolayovych Mykytenko, set himself on fire in Kyiv as a sign of protest against President Volodymyr Zelensky's policies.

[69][70] It took part in the Battle of Kyiv during which two soldiers of the battalion (Kolomyans Myroslav Zabarylo and Volodymyr Ostrovsky) were killed on 21 March 2022.

[71] On 13 April 2022, a soldier of the battalion (Ruslan Oleksandrovich Siksoi) was killed in a battle with Russian forces at an undisclosed location.

[73][74] On 20 April 2022, three soldiers of the battalion (Serhiy Popaz, Bohdan Suprun and Ivan Datsko) were killed in combat.

On 23 May 2022, the Battalion saw action in Yakovlivka clearing several forest strips, and ambushed the Russian forces but a Ukrainian soldier was killed and another wounded, the battle lasted six hours during which a soldier (Dmytro Ruslanovych Finashin) became unconscious and on waking up found himself alone, he survived behind the Russian lines for several weeks when the Ukrainian 95th Brigade finally found him, he was later awarded the Hero of Ukraine.

The battalion took part in the Battle of Kupiansk during which on 22 July 2023, during a combat mission, a group of 45 State Border Guard Service of Ukraine soldiers were encircled, so an officer of the battalion, Major Serhii Volodymyrovych Tkachenko took their command and successfully evacuated them but was himself killed as a result of a mortar strike,[87] he was awarded the Hero of Ukraine.

On 19 January 2024, an officer of the battalion (Anatsky Mykola Leonidovych) was killed as a result of the 2023 Brovary helicopter crash.