[2][3] After the Russian retreat from Kyiv Oblast, the brigade was elevated to a guards unit, before being redeployed to fight in the battle of Donbas in the beginning of April, attempting to advance in the Izium sector.

While attempting to do so it engaged in near constant attacks, resulting in it being rendered combat ineffective by the end of June, and completely obliterated during the Kharkiv counteroffensive of September.

The intensity of its combat operations was allegedly intentionally ordered, as means of eliminating the unit to cover up its war crimes.

The brigade was named by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense as responsible for the Bucha massacre in March, where bodies were found mutilated and burnt, and girls as young as fourteen reported being raped.

[8][9][10] Ukraine's Ministry of Defense stated that it knew the names and other personal information of several soldiers tied to the brigade.

The report went further stating that of the 1,500 members of the brigade, losses were estimated at 200-300 killed and as much as 1,000 wounded during fighting at Izium and Sloviansk, and that the unit "largely ceased to exist.

"[19] The unit was then directly hit by the main Ukrainian thrust during the Kharkiv counteroffensive, and afterwards ceased to be mentioned in the Russian order of battle again, corroborating reports by the Ukrainians that the Brigade's remnants had suffered 90% casualties during the offensive, with only a few dozen managing to escape encirclement and subsequent destruction.