The 71st Jaeger Brigade was created soon after the launch of the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine,
which escalated the Russo-Ukrainian War on 24 February 2022.
Raised as a unit of the Reserve Corps, in April 2022 units of the new brigade left the Reserve and took part in hostilities in the Kharkiv Oblast.
From June 2022, they also appeared in the Donbass.
Units of the 71st Brigade were seen in the initial stages of the Ukrainian offensive in the Kharkiv region in September 2022.
Between the 5th and 8th of September, its fighters crossed the Donets River and led an offensive on Balakliia, coming from the direction of Husarivka.
In October of 2022, soldiers of the brigade were honored by the commanding officer of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, Major-General Maksym Myrhorodsky.
He stated that at that time they were performing combat missions in the Donetsk region.
In the same month, the Brigade was reported as taking part in defensive battles near Bakhmut.
As of December 2022, the Ukrainian armed forces had three such Jaeger brigades, each with around 2,000 fighters.
The word Jaeger is German for "hunters", implying forest troops, and the units are neither light nor heavy.
This embroidered patch has Velcro backing.