Serhii Tretiak, Commander of 68th Brigade: "For as long as I have been in Pokrovsk direction, there hasn’t been single day without assaults. Five or six per day—never less."

Pokrovsk direction—more than six months ago, this phrase became a military term. Heavy fighting is ongoing here. And—to tell the truth—our army is being pushed back. Since last summer, we have lost Selydove and Novohrodivka, towns located close to Pokrovsk itself. With the emergence of the Pokrovsk direction, Serhii Tretiak was appointed as brigade commander of one of the brigades fighting the enemy in this direction.

There have been claims that the situation near Pokrovsk appears to be slipping out of control for the units stationed there. However, Serhii says, "That is not entirely true. Personally, I maintain coordination with all my neighboring units—the 25th Brigade, the Da Vinci Battalion, the 155th, 32nd, and 59th Brigades, as well as the 'Magyars.' Of course, I can only speak for the area of responsibility of the brigade under my command. The key task is to detect the enemy at distant approaches and eliminate them there, rather than waiting for them to reach our trenches. A couple of days ago, when the enemy's 35th Brigade launched an active assault against us, we managed to stop them in our area. And now, there is almost no enemy activity—they are focused on evacuating their own."

Just a week ago, the 68th Separate Oleksa Dovbush Jaeger Brigade released a half-hour documentary about battle management, filmed directly at the brigade's headquarters.

The idea was to show people how everything works, what working in the headquarters really means, which is often met with derogatory comments on social media. Moreover, the headquarters is one of the most attractive targets for the enemy. For obvious reasons, it’s not publicly disclosed when a missile strikes a brigade headquarters. But unfortunately, this does happen, and when it does, it results in the loss of control over the unit.

"TO RETRIEVE A FALLEN SOLDIER'S BODY, YOU MIGHT LOSE THREE MORE PEOPLE. SO HOW DO YOU MAKE THE DECISION TO SEND MORE MEN?"

- How did the idea to showcase the headquarters’ work come about?

- "In my free time, like everyone else, I scroll through Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, read comments, and sometimes even reply," says Colonel Tretiak. "I especially enjoy chatting on TikTok. Sometimes, under videos of the brigade where I comment, people ask: 'Who is this guy?' or 'Just another staff rat talking…' I reply: 'You should at least figure out who it is first.'"

- Aren't you offended or angry with such commenters?

- No, I’m not. I always refrain from giving an opinion if I don’t know the person personally. If someone has described them to me, I might say: this person told me this about them. Lately, there have been many negative videos about officers and headquarters: calling them rats, claiming no one does anything, saying everyone is "corrupt," and so on. But I see the incredible work that the people around me are doing, those involved in managing the battles. I always had six guys by my side—not counting my deputies. Each of them has their own area of responsibility... I give them commands, and they carry out specific tasks. They even take turns to use the restroom. They can’t all get up at the same time to grab a bite to eat or take a smoke break. We have to constantly monitor our sector of responsibility.

- How many screens are in front of them: six, eight?

- About twelve.

- And on each screen, there is a live stream from the positions where the soldiers are located, isn't there?

- Yes, live streams from positions, long-range reconnaissance data, artillery adjustments, payload drop adjustments, FPV drone adjustments. This process never stops; it goes on 24/7. I wanted to show all of this. It’s clear that the hardest work is done by the infantry. It’s the toughest because they’re out there on the front lines in all conditions: frost, rain, snow, sun, heat, during assaults, with artillery shelling them… It’s the dirtiest and the nastiest job. But I also wanted to show that there are people who support the infantry, who think and work tirelessly to ensure that the soldier is as protected as possible, survives, and successfully completes the mission of holding back the enemy. That’s the essence of it.

The brigade’s press service filmed the work of the headquarters from 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Twelve hours in one day—this isn’t a compilation of several days.

The operators captured how the enemy is detected, how decisions are made, how targets are hit, and what resources are used. They recorded who communicates with whom and what steps are taken.

- Did you ever think you'd become a brigade commander at 32?

- No. When I was a cadet, I didn’t even think about what the peak of my career would be. And when I joined the 24th Brigade as a young lieutenant in 2013, the brigade commander at the time was Oleksandr Pavliuk. For me, the position of brigade commander seemed unreachable. Back then, it felt impossible to become a brigade commander.

You see, at that time, the company commander had been in his position for six years. I understood that everyone was just waiting for some deputy or battalion commander to retire, and only then would everyone move up a step, and the company commander position would open up. One of us three platoon leaders, whoever showed the most potential, would be promoted to that position. But that could take another five years. One officer from another battalion, for example, had been a captain for 20 years—that was the peak of his career. That was it. You had to be very lucky to become a battalion commander before retirement. Back then, someone always had to pull strings for anyone to rise through the ranks. No one just climbed the ladder on their own.

- Did you have any relatives in the military?

- In general. I am a pioneer.

- Back in 2013, did you think there would be a war? Why did you join the army?

- What war? In 2013, I was in Moscow for an experience exchange at their Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School (MHCACS), their main institute for training their infantry officers. I went there in 2013. There were five of us cadets, along with one senior officer. Later, they came to visit us in Lviv.

- Did they still make it in time?

- Yes, it was shortly before our graduation. Five of their cadets came with their officer. We exchanged experiences, learning how they trained and how we trained. Our material resources were almost identical. I remember we both had simulators for IFVs and tanks from the same manufacturer. But even then, something stood out: when we arrived at the station, a bus picked us up, and for the entire time we were there, we were constantly accompanied by their FSB – four or five men, if I’m not mistaken. They stayed with us all the time.

- Did you realize then that the Muscovites were our enemy?

- No. We arrived and were put up in a hotel, each cadet in a separate room. We were fed three meals a day in restaurants and taken on sightseeing tours around Moscow.

- Did you see Lenin?

- It was closed. I was at the square but didn’t see him. They gave us a lot of attention, taking us on tours, organizing various meetings – that’s what I remember. We were also given a lot of gifts. We talked with professors, department heads. There was even a deputy head of the university, some general. On the surface, everything seemed proper.

"AT MY HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION, WHEN THEY ASKED ME WHO I WOULD BE IN THE FUTURE, I SAID I WOULD BECOME THE HEAD OF THE PRESIDENT'S SECURITY."

- Why did you join the army? Did you have a feeling that you would have to fight?

- No, it wasn't. In 2009, when I was graduating from high school, the maximum number of boys in my class - intentionally or not - were unfit to serve in the army. Only me and two of my friends were fit. I didn't know where I was going to enter. I submitted my documents to Kharkiv, to the SES - my father had worked in this structure for a long time. And then, during the medical examination, the military officer asked me: "Don't you want to enter a military institution?" I said: " And what can you offer me?" And I was given a list of all the institutions - Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Lviv... I thought: oh, I have relatives in Lviv, I'll have a place to go on weekends if anything. So I chose Lviv and applied there. 

- An accident of fate, right?

- Well, yes. For the video of the graduation ceremony at school, they asked me: "What do you see yourself doing in the future?" and I said I would be the head of the president's security.

- Unexpectedly... When the war started, where did you go? You were already in the 24th Brigade.

- Yes, I was a platoon commander. On March 8, we received the order to deploy and headed to the Yavoriv training ground. We stayed there for a night or two, then loaded onto troop trains and moved out to Pryluky in the Chernihiv region. There's an old military airfield there, and we were tasked with guarding it. After some time there, we were deployed to the Sumy region. We set up checkpoints because there was intel that the state border might be breached, and our task was to stop the enemy at specific military lines until reinforcements arrived, who would then engage in the main battle. Our mission was to force the enemy to deploy into combat formations early. By May, we were already in the Luhansk region. My first checkpoint was at a crossroads near Svatove, in the village of Chmyrivka. That’s where I first saw the enemy. At my checkpoint, Alfa was transferring 20 of their Cossack prisoners from a bus to helicopters, and one of them was wounded. This was happening right at our checkpoint: the buses were parked on the grounds, and the helicopters were landing in the nearby field.

Our very first combat losses were two of the WIA (wounded in action). It was the 2nd platoon; they were stationed in front of a forest, which led from Lyman to Yampil. The guys came under mortar fire— Illia Drozdiuk was wounded, along with another soldier. Illia was seriously injured as shrapnel hit him in the throat. Those were our first wounded. Within a few days, up to a week, we moved to assault Yampil and Zakotne. That’s where I saw the enemy up close and experienced what close-quarters combat really felt like. We suffered casualties—both KIA (killed in action) and WIA—and there were screams...

Censor wrote about this first battle in more detail in the article: Lieutenant Colonel Serhii Tretiak: "There was a large enemy checkpoint on the road from Lyman to Zakitne. Commander Ihor Liashenko personally led five vehicles to the road and destroyed the checkpoint with direct fire."

It's difficult to admit, but there’s something about feeling the blood taste, the adrenaline during an assault… The enemy was weaker than us. And when I’m riding in two IFVs with a tank and I see him running, I chase after him, firing at him—this adrenaline just takes over. You become like a predator, hunting your prey. I remember when we captured prisoners, and they said: "We know when the 24th is coming—we can hear the tanks right away." Each platoon commander had their own tank. And wherever I went, my tank was always the first to go.

- What caused your disability?

- I got into a car accident on my way to my own wedding... It happened in 2015. Because of the accident, we had to postpone the wedding by four months.

- When were you appointed as a battalion commander - in 2018?

- I was the battalion chief of staff. We deployed to Zaitseve. It was our first rotation with Colonel Valerii Hudz. It turned out that the battalion commander had to take a leave for either 45 or 60 days – a long time. During that period, I was acting as the battalion commander. Everything went well. At one point, just before our rotation was ending, Colonel Hudz told me: "When we return to the permanent deployment base (PDB) for rotation, prepare to take over the battalion." At the time, I was one of the youngest commanders in the Army. Colonel Hudz even argued with the higher-ups because they said I was too young to command a battalion. I was 24 or 25 years old then, making me the youngest battalion commander in the brigade. At that time, Oleh Lototskyi was appointed as my chief of staff, and Kapusta as my deputy. We were all around the same age. Everyone in charge of combat operations was young. I was 25, and the others were 22 or 23 years old.

- What was important to you as a commander?

- It’s crucial to listen to your subordinates. This has always been very important to me. I always listen to my subordinates, but the final decision rests with me. I make sure to hear them out—always. I learned this from my commanders, who were my role models as officers: Ihor Liashenko, Valerii Hudz, and Oleksandr Pavliuk. They listened to the opinions of their subordinates, and during the conversation, they could adjust their perspective or explain why they held a certain view. There was no banging a fist on the table: "I said so, and that’s final. I don’t care about others' opinions." There’s a vital quality I call the 'officer's backbone.' I was fortunate to serve alongside people who had it. They were intelligent, always had a book on their desk that they were reading at the time. It’s essential that people read whenever possible. To me, it’s crucial for an officer to be well-educated, to listen to others, to develop himself, and to allow others to grow. And most importantly, to have a backbone. Kindness, respect for subordinates and personnel, and the fact that I listen to them shouldn’t be mistaken for weakness. It’s something different.

- At the start of the full-scale war, you were in your homeland, in the Sumy region.

- By then, I was no longer serving. On the evening of February 23, my friend called and asked what I was up to. By that time, I had finished my studies in Poland and planned to get involved in international freight transportation. I was supposed to go to Poland on the 26th for an internship with a company. My friend asked, "You haven’t left for Poland yet?" I replied, "No, I’m still here." He said, "Alright, I’ll call you tomorrow morning. Don’t go anywhere." I didn’t think much of it: "Okay, sure." In the morning, he woke me up around half-past eight: "Get up, it's war!" Still half-asleep, I said: "Are you nut? What war? (Laughs.) I’m sleeping, leave me alone." We used to joke like that before—waking each other up, saying, "There’s a war in the state, get up!" But this time, he was serious. He told me, "Turn on the TV." I turned it on and saw missed calls from my parents. I started figuring things out—it was real... I called my parents to find out where they were, and they were in the basement. At the time, my sister was expecting a baby...

- How far do they live from the border?

- It's 12 kilometers away. I started thinking about how to get them out of there, even though my parents were saying, "We’ll stay." I had to get my sister out… Since I have a third-degree disability, I was called up to serve at the military commissariat. I stayed there until the evening of the 24th, about 6 PM, but I couldn’t take it any longer. I went up to the military commissar and said, "I need to join a combat brigade. My last position was battalion commander, I have combat experience. I’m not going to sit here shuffling papers and figuring out how to draft people." They made me an assistant for officer recruitment. My job was to take the officers being drafted and deliver them to the 24th Brigade to be assigned positions. I had served there before, so I knew everyone. I went to the personnel officer and asked, "Is there a position for me?" He said there was. There were only two major positions available: deputy battalion commander or senior duty officer. At that time, the brigade was in Popasna. I approached the deputy brigade commander and said, "Take me into the brigade, I can’t stay in the commissariat." That’s how I became a duty officer, and I was put in charge of organizing the defense and protection of the post in Yavoriv. While I was getting everything organized, a friend called and said that a separate rifle battalion was being formed and they urgently needed a battalion commander. I agreed.

I formed the battalion in Lviv, and then, at one point, we received an order to deploy. I was given instructions on where to go. It was the Poltava region. I was called in to report in Sumy. We were supposed to advance into Kozacha Lopan, a village near Kharkiv, and two other villages. My battalion was an infantry unit—no armor, nothing. We arrived on yellow Shkoliaryk (school-goer) buses with assault rifles and a Maxim machine gun. And there was an enemy presence in Kozacha Lopan, and I had to storm the village. In my battalion, maybe 20 people, including myself, my deputy (whom I brought in), the reconnaissance platoon commander, a few scouts, and a couple of infantrymen, had combat experience from the ATO-JFO. The rest were civilians. I said, "If I go to storm with Maxim machine guns on yellow buses, I’ll be the only one coming back from Kozacha Lopan—the battalion will just get wiped out."

They started figuring out what to do with me. While the decision was being made, the issue of the Sumy region came up, and it just so happened that I’m from there. They asked, "Where are you from?" – "From Bilopillia." – "Well, then let’s do this..." One of the battalions of the Presidential Brigade was stationed in Bilopillia. They said, "You know the area, you know everyone, you know the terrain. That will be right: you go there and take up defense. You’ll replace the Presidential Brigade battalion, and it will head to Kharkiv." That’s how I ended up going home. It turned out that the battalion's command and observation post (COP) was located just about a kilometer away from my parents' house – the house where I grew up.

- Did your sister leave?

- At that time, yes.

- Did your parents stay?

- My parents stayed behind. My sister was already with my wife in the Lviv region.

- And your brother-in-law?

- He enlisted in my unit, in this rifle battalion.

- Did he die in the Sumy region?

- Yes, during the artillery shelling. We did not have any shooting contacts there. They were shooting at us from the Russian territory, from Tyotkino. On the outskirts of the village there was a farm, hangars, and they hid artillery there. And the distillery was home to the administration and personnel mobilised from their armed forces. Plus, there was a border outpost there. These were the three main objects from where the artillery shelling came.

"WE MUST MAKE SURE THAT THE ENEMY SOLDIER DOES NOT REACH OUR INFANTRYMAN"

- How long did you stay in Sumy region? And how did you persuade your parents to leave? In fact, your family is now an IDP.

- Yes. My sister helped me persuade my parents. After the first crossing of the border by the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) units, the border area began to suffer a lot. A shell hit my yard when my parents and sister were at home. After that, my parents also came under fire. My mother worked in the hospital in the laboratory, and my father worked in the hospital in the boiler room. The hospital was hit more than once. When there were a lot of incidents in the city, I started raising the issue of moving. For a long time, I was buzzing about this topic, but then my sister persuaded them.

- When did you realize that the war had completely changed?

- When our battalion was rotated in the Sumy region, we arrived at a training ground. The unit was disbanded… At that time, the 10th Army Corps was being formed, and my battalion became part of the 116th Mechanized Brigade. According to the plan, I was supposed to become the brigade’s deputy commander. But things changed, and I was appointed deputy commander of the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade "Edelweiss." It was at that moment, when I arrived at the brigade, that I realized the war had changed. At that time, the brigade was engaged in heavy battles against Wagner forces. It was the period when Soledar was being lost. Everything operated according to classic infantry warfare: artillery, tanks, aviation. I served in the 10th Brigade for a year and a half, and that’s when I witnessed the emergence of live drone streams and aerial payload drops. Back when I was still a battalion commander, "Mavics" (drones) were already in use, but there were no live broadcasts. The drone pilot would correct artillery fire via radio. But by the time I was in the 10th Brigade, live streaming had become standard, payload drops were widely used, and later, FPV (first-person view) drones started appearing. The evolution began, and it hasn’t stopped since.

To be honest, I didn’t really want to leave the 10th Brigade. It had a strong team and a well-established system. I knew exactly what it meant to command a brigade because Roman Anatoliyovych Darmohrai was wounded and spent a long time recovering. During his absence, I served as acting commander. Whenever he was away on assignment, I took over. So, in a way, I already had brigade command experience. But I never had a strong desire to take command of another brigade.

The 68th Brigade was not the first one I was offered. But I was thinking of ways to refuse, ways not to become a brigade commander. But then at one point I just got a call and was told: "There are two brigades - either the 68th Brigade, which is already at war, or you form the 155th Brigade. You have no choice, you will be a brigade commander anyway". I said: "I will join the one that is fighting".

- And you found yourself in a very hot area.

- This is the direction of the main attack of the Russian Armed Forces' offensive.

- Do they want to take the entire Donetsk region?

-  That's what they say. I came here when Avdiivka had already fallen. Since I've been here, I don't remember a single day of calm. There was not a single day without assaults. Five to six assaults per day, never fewer. Yes, they are pressing. But we see the enemy changing in front of us. A month ago, the 15th and 30th brigades were storming me. They are over - now the 35th Brigade is attacking, including some other regiments that follow them to consolidate, but the main backbone is now the 35th Brigade and the 201st Military Base, which are attacking specifically in the area of my brigade. The same is happening with my adjacent units to the right and left. We are holding our ground – the same units, while the enemy is running out of troops. The 30th Brigade has already changed twice during my tenure. That is, it was ground down, withdrawn, replenished, restored - and came back to attack us again.

- Tell us about your soldiers. Are there enough career officers? How are the former civilians fighting?

-  It is very important that the battalion and company are led by someone who has experience and has been a platoon leader and company commander, a person who has been a soldier. Such a commander must be competent, understand tactics and the purpose behind every action so that he can explain everything to his men. You can't just put a soldier in a car, take him to a forest plantation, unload him and leave him.

- Wait, they say that's how it's done...

- I am more than sure that there are subunits where this is done. It just needs to be identified and eradicated. A person has to know where they are going, what their mission is, who the enemy is, and who their adjacent units are to the right and left, who supports them.

When people say, "We were not supported, we were not helped, we were abandoned,"—for me, this is unacceptable. I instill one crucial idea into everyone around me, into those leading units in our brigade: we must ensure that the enemy soldier never reaches our infantryman. We have to eliminate him in advance. Of course, this is not always possible, but we must do everything we can… Just yesterday, we faced 16 or 17 assault attempts in a single day, but only one escalated into a small-arms engagement. We repelled 15 of these attacks before the enemy could even reach our infantry. This is what we must strive for. But we are not there yet. When the enemy starts dying a kilometer away from my infantry and is unable to advance further—that's when I'll be satisfied. But for now, it doesn’t always work that way.

We must do everything possible to keep our soldiers from engaging in direct rifle combats. And there's only one way to achieve that—robotizing all processes. Minefields, drones, artillery—everything must be activated in advance. But for that to happen, we need early enemy detection. If you spot them at a distance, you open fire immediately—artillery and heavy machine guns engage. The enemy is forced to halt, go prone, and seek cover—behind trees, in whatever shelter they can find. That’s the moment when payload drops, FPV drones — dismantling the enemy before they can advance further. This is how the war is ideally being fought now. 

- Tell me, what is the most difficult thing for you as a commander?

- Losses. And the worst part? Knowing you can't retrieve the fallen. You know exactly where a soldier has died, but reaching him is impossible. And then comes the call: "Why haven’t you recovered him?"

But I know that to retrieve one body, I might have to lose three more soldiers. And how do you make that decision? Will they be able to retrieve him without casualties, or won't they? It’s an agonizing line—a razor-thin line.

- When we win, will you stay in the army? Or will you resign again and try to do business? Or do you still have ambitions to become a general?

- No, I don't think I will become a general. For some reason, I don't think so.

- You didn't think you would be a brigade commander either...

- One of the paths I would consider is training young officers. This is something I would pursue if I remained in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I want to raise a new generation of officers using modern methods, finally leaving behind everything Soviet. I despise the culture of showmanship in military academies. Yet, even today, it remains overwhelmingly present. And it is completely unnecessary. Looking picture-postcard while being utterly incompetent serves no purpose. We don’t need to educate spineless officers. We need to prepare people who can make tough decisions—because the future of the country depends on them. Right now, young lieutenants are joining the military at an average age of 21, while the average age of the soldiers in their platoon is over 40. If a lieutenant lacks mental resilience or has a weak character, his own soldiers will break him and start controlling him. I would not want to educate such officers.

Violetta Kirtoka, Censor.NET