It originates from a public organisation of the same name founded in 2010 in Kharkiv by Evgeny Zhilin, a former officer of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

[1] By September, the unit was formally incorporated into the 1st Army Corps as the 5th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade "Oplot".

The brigade was headquartered in Donetsk and was deployed around the city and to the south of it in Dokuchaevsk, where positions atop large spoil heaps allowed them to dominate a long section of the contact line.

[8] The commander of the brigade, Russian major general Pavel Klimenko, was killed in Ukraine on 6 November 2024 by a kamikaze drone.

[11] The unit was heavily involved in the battle of Kurakhove along with the 110th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade and received an official commendation from the Russian Minister of Defence for the capture of the city.