The brigade was activated on 8 December 2014 in the city of Haisyn in Vinnytsia Oblast and took command of three volunteer territorial defense battalions.

Vastly outnumbered by Russian forces advancing from Crimea, most of the brigade withdrew over the Dnieper River to Mykolaiv, where it took part in the city's defense.

The 9th "Vinnytsia Scythians" Battalion was sent to cover Melitopol in the early hours of the invasion, and its commander, Serhii Kotenko, was later killed in action near Zaporizhzhia on 9 March 2022.

[13] By 8 September 2023, the brigade's units had cleared Russian positions and entrenched themselves in Opytne, bringing part of the settlement back under Ukrainian control.

[18][19] Syrskyi ordered an inspection of the 59th Brigade in July 2024 amid losses and accusations of misconduct against its commander, Bohdan Shevchuk,[18][19] who had been appointed in April 2024.