I would advise everyone joining army to learn how to mobilize their mind. When you have clear plan, it’s easier to overcome fear – Yurii Hrytsyk, company commander of 207th TDF Battalion
Archaeologist Yurii Hrytsyk (Perun) joined the army on the very first day of the full-scale war. The 207th Territorial Defense Forces (TDF) Battalion has remained his unit ever since.
He speaks about his service in general terms: "I started as an ordinary rifleman in a regular infantry company. I never planned any career, but it so happened that now I’m a company commander." What it means to walk the path of an infantryman for more than three years is something most of us cannot even slightly imagine.
In his interview with Censor.NET, he revealed a glimpse of that experience. The conversation unintentionally turned into a kind of manual for new recruits.
TWO YEARS AGO, IT WAS A LIGHT VERSION OF WAR COMPARED TO WHAT WE HAVE NOW
- Yurii, when we talk about scholars in the humanities who took up Ukraine’s defense, it is usually about a long, deliberate decision. Was that your case?
- By training, I am an archaeologist; at the beginning of 2022, I was working as a research associate at the Kyiv History Museum. I had thought about the war back during the ATO period, but when Russia began large-scale exercises, I understood it would lead to serious trouble. I warned my family about six months in advance that if it started, I would join the army. And on February 24, I immediately ran to the Shevchenkivskyi TCR (Territorial Center of Recruitment and Social Support - ed.note) in Kyiv and by evening had been mobilized into a unit unknown to me. As it later turned out, it was the 207th TDF Battalion, where I still serve and with which I have gone through the entire combat path.
- Describe your combat experience, primarily geographically, so we can understand your path.
- During the first two months of the full-scale invasion, we handled public order protection in Kyiv. Starting in May, we were in the second–third echelons of troops pushing the enemy out of the northern Kyiv region and continued to carry out tasks there. In early 2023, we deployed to the Soledar sector, where we engaged in defensive fighting, essentially regular trench warfare. There were 400 meters between us and the enemy. I was a rifleman then and did not have the full picture of what was happening on the left or right; I carried out the standard tasks assigned by our commanders.
What was it like? The enemy shelled us with mortars and artillery (drones were only just starting to be used for attacks then). At times, there were flyovers of enemy Mavic quadcopters that occasionally dropped munitions on our positions. There were killed and wounded, but compared to now, it was a lighter version of the war.
We spent the entire summer on the Soledar axis. There was a difficult sortie near Bakhmut where our unit suffered casualties, both killed and wounded. That was already the closing phase of the Bakhmut campaign for Ukraine’s Defense Forces. It was the most stressful moment of my entire service. I suffered a concussion then and went for two weeks of treatment.
From autumn 2023, we carried out tasks in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. It was exactly then that FPV started to take off. On our next rotation east, near Marinka, in Kurakhove, we found ourselves in a completely different war. Now it is a drone war, and most of the losses come from them.
At the end of 2023, the then company commander evidently saw something in me and sent me to officer courses. Since then, I have held an officer’s commission and took command of the company. This happened in the thick of the Kurakhove campaign. My company, together with the entire battalion, went through it. After that came the Orikhiv sector, and now we are also in Zaporizhzhia, but in a different sector.
- Do you remember your thoughts and emotions during your first combat sortie?
- On my first combat sortie, all I cared about was that none of my comrades would be killed and that I wouldn’t have to make decisions on my own in the heat of battle. For some reason, that’s what I kept thinking about. There was usually someone more senior nearby who bore greater responsibility. Back then, fear for my own life was minimal, perhaps because there wasn’t yet the kind of precision FPV work we see now.
Now it’s different. It’s very hard to fight fear because the airspace is saturated with various means, and it’s impossible to tell friend from foe. You can’t track what tasks these UAVs have. You feel like you’re constantly being watched, but you have to fight that fear. You need to put effort into planning your own actions: what to do if a drone appears, how to cover a given stretch to a shelter, what task to execute next.
That’s why I would advise everyone who is joining the army now or planning to do so to learn to mobilize their mind and break their work down into segments. When you have a clear plan, it’s easier to overcome fear.
- And what were you thinking the day before?
- The day before, I just wanted to get to the position as soon as possible. We were entering positions in groups, and that heightened the anxiety. I kept replaying in my head: why aren’t they calling me? I repacked my rucksack several times. And once the sortie began, I thought only about the task in front of us. I felt scared only when I heard artillery fire; once we got into the trenches, the fear almost vanished, I remember that very clearly. I thought then: there are people here, living and working, so why shouldn’t I work too? Now, three years on, it’s easy to recall, though the feelings are mixed.
- What mission were you carrying out then?
- We had to reinforce our battalion’s positions; we were not in active defense. About 400 meters, even a river, separated us from the enemy. So there was no sense that anything out of the ordinary was happening.
I knew that by then our battalion had already suffered fatalities, but from artillery barrages. And often, the guys were killed because of their own mistakes. For example, during shelling, some would run along the trench, looking for their belongings and worrying about lost rucksacks. It turns out I learned from their mistakes.
ASSAULT OPERATIONS ARE A ROULETTE. 99% OF ASSAULTS ARE THWARTED BY FPV
- How do you and your comrades support one another? There’s this phenomenon that even brave people break at a certain point.
- You’re absolutely right: even very courageous people experience a shift in their state of mind after the very first sortie. That’s why support from your comrades is vital, and it’s crucial to talk things through before stepping off. This is especially important if the group is ad hoc, formed from people of different units. You must know your partner’s health issues and what medications he needs. It’s also psychologically sound for fighters to exchange the phone numbers of their next of kin before heading out.
There are a number of psychological techniques for bringing someone out of a freeze response and acute stress. Everyone goes through this during unit training.
- You come across as someone for whom the unknown is harder to handle than assault operations.
- It’s hard to analyze myself. I didn’t take part in assaults; I’m an ordinary infantryman who mostly carried out defensive actions. At first, I was a regular rifleman, and later, I led elements conducting defensive fights. At times, we closed to within 20 meters of the enemy.
Assault operations are a roulette. Right now, 99% of assaults on both sides end with the assault groups being killed or forced to pull back, because FPV drones thwart them.
- Tell us more about the fight where you closed to within 20 meters of the enemy.
- This story is unforgettable. It was in the Novosilka area; we were holding a sector of the front, had deployed anti-tank assets, and guessed correctly where the enemy armor would push from. But the anti-tank systems didn’t fully do their job, and the enemy reached our positions. An enemy group dismounted and launched a textbook assault: moving along the trench toward the elements under my command. The enemy didn’t kill anyone, and we managed to stop them thanks to our drone operators from the 207th Battalion. So it ended well, but there was a moment when an enemy assault pair closed right up on our guys (on our side, there were concussed and wounded). One of our guys stepped up, he dashed toward the enemy on his own, essentially initiating a counterattack. I was shouting over the radio for him to fall back because the odds weren’t in our favor. He had even lost his helmet. Still, he kept fighting on his own, with FPV support.
- That is genuine heroism. Beyond the fight itself, this soldier shielded his wounded comrades.
- The people I deal with are heroes in 90% of cases. They came into the unit straight off the street, literally with no military skills and without seeing themselves in the military at all. But over these years, they have, to a degree, outgrown themselves and are now executing tasks they couldn’t have imagined. Right now, because the Defense Forces are short of personnel, especially infantry, our guys are carrying a double load. I thank all service members for continuing to defend the Motherland.
I want to tell you about another fight, repelling an assault near Kurakhove, when our positions were hit by a mechanized attack: a tank and two IFVs rolled up with 7–8 enemy troops. We managed to hold them. The guys held off their attacks, and then our UAV operators took out almost all of them. Some hid in abandoned dugouts, and the next day we had to re-secure those positions. A few of our men immediately volunteered for the clearance. One was wounded in a small-arms engagement; he dropped off comms and we couldn’t locate him even with a drone. But half a day later, he came to and re-established contact, which allowed us to save him. He survived thanks to extraordinary willpower and inner strength.
As for the fight, we did eliminate all those enemy fighters, but we couldn’t restore the positions. Exactly a month later, on those same positions, we found an enemy assault trooper who had been hiding there since then. Exhaustion led him to slip up and expose himself, and we were finally able to take him out. He did not surrender. What orders he had and why he stayed there alone for so long is unclear.
THE COMPANY COMMANDER’S LEVEL IS TO CONVEY ORDERS FROM COMMAND IN CLEAR TERMS TO THE TROOPS
- You’re a commander now. How do you define your mission?
- Working with people is the hardest part. When I took over the unit, I tried to talk to everyone humanly, get my point across, and smooth out sharp edges. The tasks coming from above are clear and non-negotiable, while a platoon or company commander’s job is to preserve the lives of the personnel while accomplishing the assigned mission. So you have to break the mission down into parts so it’s as clear as possible for the soldiers. At the company-commander level, you translate the tasks pushed down from battalion command into something the fighter can understand and readily execute.
Of course, in combat, there’s no time for long deliberation about the how and why. But once you’ve taken it on, you work.
Burnout is the toughest part. People are tired; sometimes their morale dips, especially when their unit takes casualties. There’s no universal fix, but you have to make it clear to the personnel that it isn’t the end and channel their anger at the enemy into getting the mission done.
- TDF units are often attached to other brigades. Is that the case for you, and what do you think of it?
- Yes. Throughout our campaign, our battalion has consistently been attached to other brigades from different branches. Everything depends on the commander of the unit we’re attached to. Sometimes they operate on the logic of employing the attached units first and only then committing their own; sometimes the commander goes fifty–fifty. We’ve been in both situations. Lately, we’ve been fortunate with commanders; earlier, there were incidents when our unit was sent to the hottest spots. I can’t really comment; this is war and no one knows all the nuances. Overall, the practice of attached units is not the best option, but it is what it is. Now they’re moving away from it thanks to a shift to corps-level operational planning.
- Have you ever come face-to-face with Russians? What do you think of them as fighters?
- I haven’t personally captured them, but I have had interactions and seen various intelligence reports on POW interrogations. There are different types of Russian military. The lowest tier are the so-called "chomobiki" (russian citizens who were mobilized as a result of partial mobilization in russia in September 2022 - ed.note). who handle logistics, carry things or dig, and have little understanding of military matters. And then there are trained assault troops with a high level of proficiency.
The enemy is very rational now and makes maximum use of the resources it has.
The prisoners I’ve come across say they didn’t want to fight, they were deceived, and so on. Perhaps that’s a cover story. I welcome any POW and tell my guys to take prisoners whenever possible, because we need to replenish the exchange pool. Our boys are locked up there in far worse conditions than we provide for Russians.
- Do you discuss the current social situation with your comrades? Issues with mobilization and demobilization, the work of the TCR, and so on?
- I have some historical background, so I understand that in wartime, when your state faces the risk of disappearing, demobilization is essentially off the table. As far as I recall, after World War II, the British Army demobilized its veterans only in 1948–49. I expect the same in Ukraine: those now in service will have to fight until the end, whatever it is, and then remain on combat duty for some time after.
What’s going on in society, the "busification" (forcibly abduction of people from the street into a van - ed.note) and so on, naturally irritates those men and women who have been serving for over a year, and all the more so for more than three years. All this is the result of a poor recruiting campaign. It should have been run from the start and built around a maximal social package for service members and their families. I understand the state’s resources are limited, but pay and material welfare for service members must be as high as possible, starting with privates and NCOs. The state should mobilize its economy and shift it to a tempo that provides social and material support for the military. That’s the obvious part, what the guys talk about.
- Do you feel the split in society between civilians and the military that many talk about? Those same "busification" primarily concern citizens who haven’t updated their data.
- If you consider that some people set out to hide from the war and from the army by any means, while others voluntarily went to the army to defend the state and their homes, you can indeed see a split. Conscripts were in fact given time to update their data. This needs work, and it’s the state’s task, we have several ministries that should have devised a common strategy.
If people who have been through the war are demobilized, they will definitely ask their neighbors and acquaintances: "And where were you?" There will clearly be conflicts at that level, and we can’t yet imagine the consequences.
Therefore, to my mind, after the war citizens should be differentiated in their right to vote. There are those who fought for this state and those who dodged. Since the times of the Roman Empire, the status of citizen has had to be earned and respected in society. "I pay taxes" — that’s not enough.
I always tell my loved ones that war is not a place where you’ll be comfortable. In war you will always have to sacrifice something. The last thing I want to sacrifice is my personnel.
Olha Skorokhod, Censor. NET
