Colonel Vadim Sujarevski, born in Berehove 41 years ago, is a part of European history. For Ukraine, he is a hero: the medals he has received attest to this. But his relevance goes beyond his country. The name Sujarevski, current deputy commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the East, appears in the annals of the war not because of the current Russian invasion, which began in 2022, but because of a decision he made on April 13, 2014, in Sloviansk. This city in Donetsk province, in the Donbas region, remains under Ukrainian control today, largely thanks to him.
The war in Donbas began a day earlier, on April 12, 2014. Russian soldiers under the command of Colonel Igor Girkin occupied the administrative centers of Sloviansk to support the Donetsk separatists. Sujarevski, then a lieutenant, had orders not to fire to avoid escalation. On April 13, threatened by an imminent ambush, he disobeyed and ordered his soldiers to attack the Russian and separatist forces. And he was the first to pull the trigger against Russians in Ukraine. Thus began the battle for Sloviansk, the first of the war in Donbas.
Twelve years later, Sloviansk remains part of free Ukraine, although Russian troops are just 16 kilometers from the town. Only 25% of Donetsk province is not occupied; and the other province in the Donbas region, Luhansk, is entirely under Russian control.
The Kremlin and Washington demand that Ukraine withdraw its troops from what it holds in Donetsk as a condition to seal peace. “What the United States is doing is prostituting itself politically,” says Sujarevski referring to the affinity between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. “The White House is the result of Russian psychological warfare and disinformation,” adds this veteran officer in an interview with EL PAÍS.
His baptism by fire took place precisely in a war driven by the United States, the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Sujarevski was a 19-year-old private when he was part of the Ukrainian detachment assigned to the Western coalition led by Washington. In nine months, he saw nine comrades die.
That period, he explains, determined the decisions he would make in the future: “Until today.” Specifically, Sujarevski points to the most important experience of his military career on April 6, 2004, in the battle where the coalition captured key positions in Kut, which was under the control of the fundamentalist militias of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The commander ordered them to abandon the municipality despite having pushed back the enemy.
For the current colonel, that was a lesson in the importance of having modern commanders who understand the importance of delegating to subordinates and making decisions more agilely, not vertically but horizontally. That is, adapting to NATO military theory and abandoning the rigid Soviet system.
The White House is the result of Russian psychological warfare and disinformation
“In the first phase of the invasion [2022-2024], the replacement of old generals and colonels who did not allow progress was good and effective, but now I think it is negative because these changes are based on political interests that harm the army,” Sujarevski opines, referring to the constant replacements of commanders in the Ukrainian Armed Forces decided from the office of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He does not want to add anything more when asked if he himself is one of those affected. In 2024, he was appointed deputy chief of the General Staff and, even more importantly, commander of the Unmanned Forces, that is, of all Ukrainian drone power. He lasted only one year in both positions and, without expressing it in words, his face shows that the decision still hurts him.
Between Iraq and the war in Ukraine, “there are not so many political differences,” Sujarevski maintains; especially, he says, because of the falsehoods behind them: “The Russians invaded us claiming our government was illegitimate and a threat, and with Saddam Hussein they did the same. The main objective of both wars is territory and geopolitical benefits for those who started them. And in both wars, the greatest suffering is that of civilians, Ukrainians and Iraqis,” he summarizes.
The start of the war, on February 24, 2022, did not surprise Sujarevski. At that time, he was commander of the 35th Marine Brigade and they had prepared for an invasion that Sujarevski’s main supporter, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, then commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, took for granted. His mission was to participate in the defense of the coast of Odesa province: “On February 24, a member of my team asked me what was going to happen. I answered that maybe we had two weeks left to live, until the bullets and artillery ran out.”
On February 24, 2022, I thought maybe we had two weeks left to live, until the bullets and artillery ran out
Drones instead of soldiers
More than four years have passed and Ukraine continues fighting. In the Black Sea, where Sujarevski started this war, the defending army has achieved one of its greatest victories: pushing back the Russian fleet with its naval drones and securing export routes for the merchant ships departing from the ports of Odesa. It has been precisely Ukraine’s early commitment to drone innovation, Sujarevski emphasizes, that has allowed its Armed Forces to keep standing up to the enemy.
“Without our current drone power, we would need between three and five times more soldiers,” Sujarevski estimates based on statistics and military theory. Without drones, in a conventional war, Ukraine would have fallen long ago because, in this war of attrition, recruitment is one of its weak points.
Ukraine does not have as many human resources as Russia. Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov revealed last January that more than two million Ukrainian males of conscription age are hiding to avoid joining the ranks. Fedorov also pointed out that official figures indicate that at least 200,000 soldiers have deserted, equivalent to more than 20% of Ukrainian troops.
“We have huge problems with mobilization,” admits Sujarevski. The solution, according to him, would be to set limits on the period of military service: “Everyone should know how long they will be at war. It is a huge problem for our soldiers, especially for those who started fighting voluntarily at the beginning and are still fighting today; psychologically it is tough. When we specify to our people how long they will fight, recruitment will improve,” he proposes.
We have huge problems with mobilization; when we specify to our people how long they will fight, recruitment will improve
Sujarevski has been fighting Russia for 12 years and believes the Russian army “is good at learning and multiplying the results of learning.” The best example is how Russia has been mimicking Ukrainian drone technology and combat tactics to evolve and surpass its rival. In what Ukraine continues to be superior, the most advanced country in the world, according to this colonel, is in the development of radioelectronic weaponry that interferes with the connection between drones and their pilots.
“What I am sure of is that Europe is late,” Sujarevski says referring to this military evolution: “Europe and the United States must prepare for future wars because they have problems with artillery production, ammunition, aircraft, air defenses, soldier training. Many European countries are not aware that the world has changed, they do not understand that war is closer than they think.”
A good end to the war would be for Ukraine to recover the lost territories in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces, according to Sujarevski. He does not include Donbas because he sees it difficult for Russia to give up what it has conquered there. But the same logic could apply to Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. In any case, to achieve that goal, this Ukrainian hero concedes, his country should receive much more international aid than it has obtained so far, which has only served to resist.
And above all, he says, a “total unity of Europe and the world” is necessary: “The European Union tells us it is united, but the truth is that there are many problems with Russia’s friends, with Hungary and Slovakia, because the strength of Russian psychological warfare and disinformation is a great disadvantage for us,” laments the military man.
