A small group of officers and analysts challenged the dominant doctrine of heavy aircraft and proved that the future of…
He paid a 700-hryvnia fine just to gain the opportunity to become a volunteer in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
During the evacuation of the wounded, he chose to remain at the position to cover the group’s withdrawal and hold the defense.
For several hours he and his comrades fought through enemy electronic warfare, which ultimately allowed them to detect an enemy column of about 30 armored vehicles and repel a large-scale assault.
He received his callsign in honor of one of the most famous characters from the Warhammer 40,000 wargame universe.
All this is about Yaroslav, callsign “Commissar” — the senior sergeant of the wing company of the unmanned systems battalion “Inquisition” of the 59th Separate Assault Brigade of Unmanned Systems named after Yakiv Handziuk.
The serviceman told ArmyInform about his combat path and several of the brightest episodes of his work.
A 700-hryvnia fine
Yaroslav is a native Kyiv resident who, approaching his 40s, had already built a successful career in a profitable printing business. Having started working at 17, he rose through the ranks to become the development director of a major company supplying printing equipment and consumables.
“We provided technological support to printing houses throughout Ukraine and supplied them with materials. Offset printing, flexographic printing. The advertising sector, print media, book publishing — we worked with almost all Ukrainian printing companies that provided services in these fields”, — the man says.
He left his successful and profitable business after Russia launched its full-scale attack on Ukraine, volunteering for the Armed Forces in May 2022.
“I came to the military enlistment office as a volunteer, but I had to pay a 700-hryvnia fine because they had no documents about me. So for 700 hryvnias, you could say, I bought myself the right to defend Ukraine as part of the Armed Forces”, — Yaroslav smiles.
From Kyiv to Donetsk region
Yaroslav began his service in the 23rd Separate Special-Purpose Battalion of the Separate Presidential Brigade named after Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytskyi.
“Back in 2022, we carried out tasks in the Kyiv region. The summer and almost the entire autumn passed like that, until in November 2022 our unit was sent to the Donetsk region”, — the soldier recalls.
Kurdyumivka, Ozeryanivka, Klishchiivka, Bakhmut — Yaroslav names the settlements where he took part in combat operations. The defensive battles were extremely intense, and the rifleman — that was his rank and position at the time — felt their burden especially harshly.
At the beginning of 2023, a new unit was formed within the battalion — an aerial reconnaissance platoon. After completing training as a Mavic drone pilot, Yaroslav was among the first to join it. On the next deployment to Bakhmut, he was already working as an aerial reconnaissance pilot.
“While working with the Mavic, I took the initiative to learn how to operate fixed-wing UAVs. At that time it was the Valkyrie, which allowed us to conduct additional deep reconnaissance beyond the frontline.
My acquaintance, Serg Marco, invited me to the 59th Brigade — they were forming the first battalion of unmanned systems, where we continued developing fixed-wing UAVs, both domestic and foreign.
The brigade commander then was Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi, which became another reason for our transfer. Under his command, we destroyed the enemy”, — the soldier explains.
“Commissar” Yaryk — because he knows how to crush orcs
“During the battalion’s formation we developed a community of like-minded people and fans of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, who are always searching for ‘heresy’ and destroying the enemy on the battlefield”, — Yaroslav explains the origin of the unit’s name.
Today, “Commissar” Yaryk is the senior sergeant of the fixed-wing UAV company — the so-called “wings”.
“Many in our unit are fans of the Warhammer universe, so callsigns named after its heroes are quite common. Guys choose them because it’s interesting. Vadym Olehhovych is a fan, Serg Marco is a fan, and so am I”, — he says.
Just like his Warhammer 40,000 prototype — one of the most famous and respected Imperial Guard heroes who defended a planet from orc hordes — Yaroslav is already in his fourth year of defending our country from Russian monsters during a very real, not imaginary, war on our own land.
Once near Kurdyumivka, in the water-pumping station area…
Yaroslav received his callsign, inspired by the legendary Commissar Sebastian Yarrick, more than deservedly. Starting his combat path as an infantry rifleman, he fought Russian occupiers — often called “orcs” — many times in the Donetsk region. Here is how he recalls one of those battles:
“The first fight in Kurdyumivka stands out most. I arrived with medics to evacuate the wounded — the ‘three-hundreds.’ We managed to evacuate all the wounded, but there was no room left for me in the vehicle, so I stayed at the position.
Right at that moment the p***rs started assaulting, and it was decided to hold the position.
There were five of us — all volunteers from Kyiv. The enemy assaulted our positions four or five times over three days, and we hit them hard. They suffered heavy losses, so all their assaults failed.
I can say we were lucky — we had only rifles and grenades. If the Russians had used armor, we would have had nothing to stop them with. But they attacked only with infantry — and we held them off. When guys with grenade launchers arrived, it got easier.
We held the positions near the Kurdyumivka water-pumping station until I received the order to leave. They told me: ‘You went with the wounded and then disappeared. Come back immediately — you’re needed here, and they’ll manage without you there’”.
A stubborn breakthrough through EW allowed them to stop the enemy assault
The second episode of “Commissar” Yaryk’s combat work was repelling an enemy assault near Krasnohorivka, when the Russians attempted to attack with a large column of roughly 30 armored vehicles. The vigilance and persistence of the aerial reconnaissance crews allowed them to successfully stop this massive attack.
“We were operating the Shark UAV crew, but the Russians were heavily jamming the connection with EW systems. We had to constantly maneuver, look for gaps, try to get into areas where their EW didn’t reach.
Our pilot with the callsign ‘Filin’ — a very persistent guy — fought with it for two hours until he managed to find a way to approach from the Donetsk airport direction and get the video feed.
We saw a column of 30 armored vehicles approaching us. They later split into two groups — 15 moved toward us, and the other half toward our neighboring unit.
If we hadn’t fought through the EW to the end, we might have spotted them too late. But we detected them in time, sent the video, sent the coordinates — and the assault was repelled.
It was an incredible feeling — when you sit alone on the stream, fighting EW for two hours, seeing nothing… and then suddenly you see that column. And then Mavic operators join your stream, artillery joins, FPV drone operators join, anti-tank crews… and suddenly there are 40 of you in the stream! Everyone coordinating actions and systematically destroying both halves of the column with everything available.
The Russians suffered heavy losses. Repelling the assault was possible precisely because of the perseverance of aerial reconnaissance crews who punched through enemy EW and provided the video of the column.
Had we given up, the column could have approached too closely, and it would have been much harder to stop the attack. As the commander said — that day, we saved Krasnohorivka”, — Yaroslav concludes.
The warrior, whose callsign comes from a legendary Warhammer hero, is convinced that Russian orcs have no place on any piece of Ukrainian land. Every day, “Commissar” Yaryk of the “Inquisition” does everything in his power to ensure this.
Photos by the author and from personal archive
