First to open fire in 2014. Who is Sukharevskyi, new deputy chief of Armed Forces of Ukraine

Vadym Sukharevskyi, Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (photo: t.me/V_Zelenskiy_official)

Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi has been appointed as the new deputy commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He will be in charge of unmanned systems and the development of the use of drones by the Ukrainian army.

The material was based on statements by the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine and Vadym Sukharevskyi, as well as on Wikipedia.

Who is Vadym Sukharevskyi

Vadym Sukharevskyi was born in Berehove, Zakarpattia. He graduated from the Mukachevo Lyceum with advanced military and physical training. In 2004, he participated in a peacekeeping mission in Iraq. In particular, he took part in the Battle of Al-Qut.

In 2009, Sukharevskyi graduated from the Lviv Institute of the Land Forces of the Lviv Polytechnic National University. In 2011, he was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant and became the commander of an airmobile company of the 80th separate airmobile regiment. The regiment’s commander, Viktor Kopachynskyi, recognized Sukharevskyi as one of the two best company commanders in the regiment.

Sukharevskyi took part in repelling Russian aggression since 2014, in particular, he became the first Ukrainian soldier to open fire on the enemy. In August 2014, he was wounded in the battles near Krasne.

In 2016, Sukharevskyi became the commander of the 1st Linear Battalion of the 36th Marine Brigade.

Sukharevskyi was promoted to colonel in 2020. In 2021, he served as Chief of Staff of the 35th Separate Marine Brigade, and in February 2022, he became the head of the 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade named after Yakiv Handziuk.

In June 2022, Sukharevskyi was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vadym Sukharevskyi

First to open fire in 2014

On April 13, 2014, the first battle between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian militants led by terrorist Igor Girkin took place. The battle took place despite the order “not to open fire”. However, according to the Ministry of Veterans, the commander of the 3rd Company of the 80th Airmobile Brigade, call sign “Borsuk,” took responsibility and opened fire on the enemy. This commander was Vadym Sukharevskyi.

“Under orders, he and his unit (Sukharevskyi – ed.) moved towards Sloviansk. It was near Semenivka on April 13 that the terrorists attacked the SSU group. Vadym and his comrades were nearby, and when he saw the militants firing at Ukrainian special services, wounding several of them and starting to approach, the officer decided to intervene,” the ministry said.

As Sukharevskyi himself explained, he realized that he would be responsible for the deaths of his comrades, no matter what the orders of the command were.

“I gave the command to move forward in the APCs and sat down in the place of the shooter so that I would bear all the responsibility for this decision. I decided to open fire myself,” he recalled.

Reshuffle in the Armed Forces

This week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy replaced the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and the Chief of the General Staff. Oleksandr Syrskyi was appointed instead of Valerii Zaluzhnyi, and Anatolii Barhylevych was appointed instead of Serhii Shaptala.

Today, the head of state announced the approval of Syrskyi and Barhylevych’s deputies. Vadym Sukharevskyi was among them.