Ukrinform’s new project, “Victory Commanders" highlights the leaders of various ranks and branches of the military who, with their knowledge, skills, experience, authority, and unyielding faith in Victory, have already written their names into the modern history of Ukraine.

This conversation is with Ihor Khalus, a company commander at 220th Battalion, 126th Separate Brigade, the Territorial Defense Forces (TrO). He took part in the operation in Krynky, a key village in the heavily-contested Dnipro bridgehead in the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region.

-Your biography, Mr. Ihor, says you had studied at a military university. But before the full-scale invasion, your work and life were completely unrelated to your educational background. You headed a logistics firm, owned a music recording studio. So, training at a military university… Did you expect to end up having to make a life out of it?

- To be honest, I, when studying at a military university, did not think of connecting my future life with the military. Yet I went to Odesa Military Academy and studied for 2.5 years there. Then we were sent to undergo military training in Kirovohrad, where we took the oath and were handed certificates. Well, that was how my involvement with the military seemed to have ended up... But when the full-scale invasion began, I went to a military conscription center without waiting for the arrival of a draft notice in the mail.  

- You had everything: a good job, a hobby, a family. Still you decided to postpone this all for an indefinite time, to go to war...

- I took the military oath in 2012, was an officer in reserve. A man must be a man, must defend his country. I swore to defend it, and I’m defending it as the enemy has come to attack it. And it won't be otherwise.

- Did you feel then how long this war could drag on?

- I didn't even think about that, honestly. I read the news, saw that the enemy was advancing, advancing on all axes. And how long it will last, how long will I live if I go to defend the state, there were no such thoughts. I had to act and I was doing everything I could.

- How did you become a commander?

- I came with my military ID, was assigned to the 126th brigade within the TrO forces. I began as the top sergeant at a platoon, was working with people, training them. There was a big problem with the people, those who came from civilian life. Whereas we, after a military training course, at least knew what a machine gun is, what a weapon is, how to handle it, some basic elements of tactics, etc., those people saw a machine gun for the first time and did not know how to handle it. At that time we were near Odesa, we all worked so that people learn at least something. If a man does not know how to handle a weapon, what kind of warrior is he?

- We know that you had to become a commander for the soldiers who lost their previous commander. How did you manage to gain trust?

- When a platoon commander’s position became vacant in our company, I was appointed to command the 3rd platoon. And we went on our first rotation mission to the Mykolaiv front. When we returned back to our base, I was appointed second in command of a company that was reorganized from a morale support company, but that was not suited for me. I want to work with people, want to be by their side while at the front line, where there is war, not paperwork.  So commander of another company from our battalion invited me to join their team. I really liked the way that commander worked, viewed the war. He was a military manager who never sat still, never stopped inventing something. It was really appealing to me. So I accepted his invitation. But we had to wait a while for my transfer to be endorsed, and while we were waiting, he was killed in the fighting... So I had to take over command of a company where all people were complete strangers to me. It was 2023, a hard year.

- At what point did you feel that the connection was established?

- On the Cossacks’ island. I had to do work there, not as a company commander, let's say so. We had fought out to the point where I had by myself, with a soldier on oars rowing boat, to take out the wounded and the body of a dead from the island. People saw that I was not going to abandon anyone, people saw that I would remain by their side - and it was then when trust started to sprout. Soon afterwards, I was ordered to send my people to Krynky, but responded that my people would not go there without me. They said that they need a company commander there, and so we went to Krynky. We succeeded in everything there, it turned out even better than could have been expected.

- I still want to know how this transformation took place: Khalus - a volunteer and Khalus - a commander? What qualities is a commander supposed to possess? And actually, your experience as CEO at a logistics company - does it help you now?

- Do you mean managerial experience? Basically, I, throughout all my lifetime - whether it was a volleyball team, a football team, was always a team captain, organizer, and I also was the leader of my group at the academy. I am always engaged with people, act as organizer. Indeed, I had previous civilian managerial experience, I had up to 150 people under my management at the peak of the season. That’s to say, in civilian life, I already managed a full company-size unit, even with an attached unit counted. I knew how to find an approach to people, how to encourage them to produce results, how to organize work so that discipline and motivation are both there in place. So that you don't just run across people and bark like a dog, making them do their jobs. The soldiers gathered for the sake of defeating the enemy. For this to be achieved needs something to be done every day. And my task, as a commander, is to guide and control.

- So a military commander needs to be a manager both at the same time?

 - Yes, indeed. Any commander must be a manager. A person who has no subordinates cannot be a manager. Our war is changing every month, every week. Sometimes it turns out that what was working well today no longer works tomorrow. If the commander is a manager, he will analyze: we have suffered losses (in a best-case scenario, not in people), and lessons must be learned. And then we no longer do as we did yesterday.

- In our earlier conversation, you said a phrase that I would like to quote: everything rests on justice. But, I feel like, justice in war is such a shaky thing...

- Justice is essential, like air, like water. Sometimes emotions, let's say so, are burning, but there are basic rules that are the same for everyone, and this is what justice is. Where a warfighter has proven himself, he receives an award. Where a warfighter showed himself in a negative way, he receives a punishment. This is what makes the foundation of discipline and motivation. Because where some people fight while others, who are nowhere to be found, receive awards, a host of unwelcome questions arise, to the immediate commander in the first place. Where justice is not there, the commander will be unaccepted by his people. The commander is not supposed to run after people with a stick to make them go somewhere or do something. Instead, he is supposed to come and say calmly: you go there, do this or that, and be answered: yes, sir; went for the mission, completed it, reported. That’s it.

- I recall one of your posts on Instagram where you said that a commander must remain to be a soldier.

- Not only. Today, for example, you have to command a company, the next day a platoon, and then to serve as a sergeant, or even as a soldier. A sergeant is supposed to check in his personnel’s performance. This does not mean you have to run after everyone, but come up to a soldier and say: show me your machine gun, why isn't it cleaned? But this also means that the sergeant - the immediate commander of this soldier - did not do his job as appropriate, because it’s he who is supposed to make sure his subordinates perform their duties as expected. Then the one-minute company commander can become a sergeant. Then he comes to an entrenchment to see his guys, takes a machine gun, tries it on himself, and inquires: why isn't the trench deep enough?... After a talk with a soldier, he asks: Why did you do it this way, not that way? In other words, that’s where you are still a soldier. Where a company commander is swapping duties on all positions in his company every day, then he understands what their chances will be like tomorrow, how to fight a battle without losing personnel.

- On your Instagram page, you posted a photo with the caption “There is not a single professional soldier featured in this photo”. Is this how you improve the morale of your soldiers?

- All soldiers in my platoon came from civilian life, not a single one of them had military educational background or previous experience with the military. None of them even served their conscription service. When we were sent on our first rotation mission, we heard a drone buzzing for the first time, and saw what it is like when 120mm mortars, MLRS rockets, cluster munitions are working against you... But it's cool when you and your guys are on a position under fire, and they are kind of happy: Oh, woohooooooo!... Adrenaline is cool! You, indeed, can become a warrior if you come from civilian life, you can learn very quickly when there are experienced people around you. Now people are coming to me from a training center, and then, three weeks after, we get experienced warfighters - on the Island, in Krynky, in the Cossacks’ camps, in Mykolaivka... The Tiger fighter, he knows everything...

- Tiger fighter? Who is he?

- Funny story, actually. It was the year 2023, summer. We were on the river, working against the islands. And my guys spotted a vehicle driving across a field in the dark. They didn't say anything to anyone, just set up an ambush. The vehicle drives by, and they jump out, point their guns at those inside: Code word! You know, it’s like at a checkpoint... Then their commander calls me and says: tell your "tigers" never do this again, because mine are going to work, and some aborigines jump out at them and ask for the code word. "Tigers" was in quotation marks, but the word has stuck with us. Tigers are how I currently call the boys who performed difficult combat tasks. And among the Tigers there is the Tiger of all Tigers - the highest rank of the Tiger that exists in the unit.

- When you recall these moments, you smile. Maybe you have another similar story in stock?

- Well, these are scary stories, actually, but they ended up well. For example, when we were withdrawing from Krynky, boats were waiting for us on the water, a shelling started, there were 10 of us. Each boat had space for five. So five people in one boat, five in the other. I counted everyone - ten, let's go! We begin to row away from the bank and then my deputy runs ashore with a machine gun, shouting: They forgot about me! And we are already 15 meters away from the bank. I told the man on the stern: turn it back. Once the boat reached ashore, he immediately fell down into the boat, feet up, head down, and he stayed in this uncomfortable position until we reached the other bank of the Dnieper. He said afterwards that his neck hurts, to which I responded: you are alive, and that is the most important thing. Above us was the starry sky, so amazingly beautiful, like in a movie. I was lying in the boat, looking at the sky, but that guy couldn’t see it, because he was lying with his head down. Never will he recall that sky like I do...

- Ihor, tell me about the specifics of the fighting in the Kherson region?

- Well, let’s take the Cossack camps, for example. This is less known operation, but it was the combat rehearsal of the Krynky operations. It was very hard out there. It was very easy to enter but very hard to get out. Then followed the story with the islands. We were on the high, right bank of the river, while the enemy were on its left, gentle bank. So they had many points of descent to the water, and we had only few, and the enemy knew of their locations. Therefore, our logistics was very complicated as the enemy was using everything it had against us. So we did all our operations using fishing boats, on oars. You just go out, knowing that on the way they will try killing you, but you have to change people, you have to evacuate the wounded. You are lucky if the wounded man has injuries of light or medium severity, and is in stable  condition ready for evacuation, or they waited till night, when a boat can slip by unnoticed. But where injuries are severe, the casualty must be taken out at day time...

- You are talking about the difficulties that are conditioned geographically. But what about others? Red tape, outdated approaches? What do you think should be changed in the Armed Forces, and who should do the changes?

- Let’s start from the good. The army is changing. That’s to say, it needs to be reformed, and there is still a lot of work to be done. I have no illusions, I worked in a managerial position, introducing changes with the people whom you did not choose. So this was very hard to do.

- Could you give examples?

- People who are capable of inventing something new have come to serve with the Armed Forces. We beat the enemy by innovating. But the enemy replicates our innovations very quickly, tries to scale up and down, has more people, more artillery... But due to this creativity we still can struggle as no one has struggled with them before; they did not expect this. But with us, this originates from the bottom, not from the top. For example, there was a problem with UAV units. And it was being solved at the bottom level where everyone was doing aerial reconnaissance using privately-bought equipment, doing FPV-drone calculations privately. In my unit, for example, no positions are still provided for an UAV operator or an FPV drone operator. But I have them, contractors. On our staff schedule are only positions of soldiers, sergeants, combat medics, drivers. This is the staff available to me. But I understand that this does not correspond to the current realities of war. Then bloggers begin literally shouting about this problem. And it is only then when the stirring begins at the top level, and they decide to organize specialist unmanned systems units. But this should have been done a year or so earlier. After all, it was back in 2022 when people began to ‘chip in’ to buy Mavic drones. And I, the company commander, cannot do without my aerial reconnaissance. And such examples are aplenty.

The tasks ordered from the top are such as ordered from the top. There are higher commanders who studied in academies, but in order to understand the modern war, one needs to be by his solders’ side in entrenchments. No one knows my strengths and resources better than I, because they look at my staff schedule and say: Hey, you have 70 people on your schedule. But quite few of these 70 people are warfighters, you know. In order to win, we must preserve solders’ lives in the first place. There won't be new ones, there won't be better ones, and those who are available are valued more than gold.

- So what is the lesson learned?

- You cannot learn war from a book. From a book, you can learn articles of war, service regulations, document accounting procedures... But you can't learn war this way, because it changes every day. The people who planned the Krynky operation sent there soldiers on foot, because there was no way to bring combat vehicles there. And these soldiers begin to be pounded with glide bombs. You are sitting in an entrenchment, and here a bomb flies in, and nothing is left: neither you nor the trench... I was in Krynky at the time that saw a record high number of glide bombs dropped daily on the 3km long/0.8km wide frontline running along the bank of the Dnieper river. More than 60 bombs were dropped there every day. An infantryman can be bold enough to attack and destroy a tank, an infantryman can storm an enemy’s entrenchment head on, but what is he supposed to do with a bomber plane or with glide bombs launched from 30 kilometers away? The Patriot, which ours pulled up, shot down four hostile warplanes in two days, it seems like. But it was not brought there the next day, as soon as they realized that we had problems countering these air raids, neither was it there a week later nor even a month later... I have a big question: why are we sending people there where we can't cover them up? Who should be made responsible for not making appropriate decisions?

- It seems like you wanted to say something prior to the question regarding military reform and transformation…

- I have proposals regarding army reform, maybe someone will heed them someday. First. This war showed that it is small groups, mobile groups that are very effective. I am convinced that, in the future, the strength of a battalion will need to be increased. As regards brigades… We will have to move away from the standard vision of what a brigade is. The brigade is a very large organism, very sluggish, often with duplicating services. Because where there is a separate battalion within a brigade, they duplicate each other’s work. This is one.

Second is that no one knows better than the battalion commander what is happening in his sector of responsibility. It’s like an executive manager. He can tour the positions held by his battalion and see: Well, I have an artillery gun here, a mortar there, and infantrymen at so-and-so. That’s to say, the battalion commander can delve into this structure. But the battalion needs to be armed a little bit better, to be provided with electronic warfare equipment that must be for its own use. So that it doesn’t turn out like it was before, when we have a problem, we need a EW system, we contact the higher commander, and it turns out that the EW is positioned in such a way that it will not help us in any way. And we are losing soldiers... We need to reduce these structures so that they become more mobile, but simultaneously it is necessary to add responsibility to commanders in the field. To give them more leverage while simultaneously increasing responsibility. It looks strange to me that I, a company commander, am entrusted with a particular sector of the frontline, entrusted with personnel, human lives, but, let's say so, they, for some reason, are in no rush to entrust me with a "gas mask", a personal protective equipment. We are at war, and war is an expensive enterprise. It's good if people don't die. If a soldier escapes death, he is provided with a new helmet, new armor, new rifle – and viola, he can fight again. But if I have no one left to give this rifle, we are not going to win the war. To me, this situation looks bizarre. Well, they can toughen my responsibility, as a commander, for property loss, for example. If someone catches me stealing or appropriating something, then get me punished by law. But I came to war to fight, to win, not to build a career.

Changes are necessary amid war. I have no illusions that everyone can be changed. Where a commander does not cope with his work, he must be removed from position. But he is an officer, so he needs to be stuck somewhere. So they appoint him to a position where he will do the least harm. Because there is no such mechanism that allows an officer to be stripped of his epaulettes and military insignia, of officer's ID, like if you cannot work with your brains, then be useful, work with your hands; take a shovel and go digging trenches.

- Did you ever contact someone with your proposals?

- Not at the moment. I am busy with my unit in the first place, trying to implement my ideas in it. I was lucky with the battalion commander -- a young manager who is always ready to listen and understand, who always goes to the tactical edge, speaks with soldiers. He knows what is going on at the tactical edge. You know, you don't need all these logbooks, these piles of papers. Company commander’s performance is not hard to verify: does the commander train his subordinate personnel, how training is organized – in tactical medicine, shooting. I can come to any company, approach a soldier and say: wounds to the left arm, right leg... And it immediately turns out that the soldier does not have two tourniquets with him, at least two, because three or four would do better. If one of the tourniquets is found sealed in a package, this means that the wounded soldier had not received training in tactical first aid. And you need no logbooks, because this can be verified that way. Or come up to a company commander and say: get behind the wheel and take me to your entrenchments. If he doesn't know where to drive, then he knows nothing about his entrenchments.

- How do you, a commander, work with new recruits?

- First and foremost, I always assign every newcomer to experienced soldiers. Second, I send them to ‘calm’ positions first. A man comes from a training center (and this is not the year 2022), he knows what a weapon is, is familiar with some elements of the tactics. But a beginner does not know how to distinguish the sound of an FPV drone from that of a Mavic drone, whether a Mavic is loaded or is flying empty after mission, how outgoing fire differs from incoming fire, and artillery fire from mortar fire. We get men adapted, bring them to calm positions so that they learn how to distinguish the sounds.  A man does this once; the second time he does so in the company of experienced soldiers, and only then he is ready to go to other positions.

People come to me, I tell the company medic - conduct a training session in tactical first aid and report to me: what they know/don't know, whether they know/don't know what they have in their first-aid kits. The medic conducts the session and reports: they fit in the time limit here but failed there, need to be trained on some aspects of tactical first aid, they know this but don't know that, what is missing... - OK, when the next class will be held? – On such-and-such a day. Agreed.

- Do you think that the Krynky operation has achieved its objectives?

 - I still cannot understand the global task that stood before us. Perhaps the task was to contain a certain amount of enemy forces at this particular sector of the front. Perhaps there were other tasks, but they did not come true. I can say with certainty that the operation could have been done better, including the problem with air raids that I’ve mentioned above. Moreover, one of the main problems was that there were too many related units involved. Let me explain: when I entered Krynky, I was tasked to set up defenses on a particular street. There were nine soldiers from my company with me, those whom I knew when in Krynky, while all the others were units picked up from different brigades, even using different communication systems. In order to establish communication across this street, I just took a note pad, entered every house, every basement, risking being shot from there. I was coming up saying: guys, friends, glory to Ukraine, palianytsia... (the word Palyanytsia refers to a type of rustic Ukrainian bread but it has also added symbolic significance because since the war started it has been used as a shibboleth to determine Ukrainians from Russians because it’s hard for the latter to pronounce it properly – ed.). And heard in response: who are you, why are you here? I am so-and-so, appointed to be in charge of this sector, which unit are you from, how many of you are there? We shared some information about each other, like I have such a call sign, you have such a call sign; I took it down in my note pad and moved on. This is how I was walking around all of Krynky. It would be much easier if one single company went there, with an established communication, soldiers who know each other. War is as much teamwork as football. The result would have been better if there was a plan. There was no plan for Krynky operation; units were entering the left bank without knowing in advance where to move, what to do, how to team work with each other.

- War is losses; which loss is the most painful for you?

- Yesterday, I attended a funeral; my comrade-in-arms died in the fighting. We served in different units at the time of his death, but this guy was in my platoon in 2022. You know, the biggest loss in this war is not that we are just losing people, although that loss is a crazy one, indeed, but the worst thing is that we are losing an unborn generation in this war, that is, these guys who died, what sons they could have raised but didn’t have the time!

- Despite the hard experiences that you have to face, you compose music. What inspires you? Is this in response to what you’ve lived through? How was this song born?

- These were very strong emotions, especially when getting out of Krynky. There was a wall at the entrance to a basement. Guys scribbled a boat, a sun on it. And this little sun, it was the last day of our withdrawal. I composed that song at the company headquarters, where there was no light, but there were 120mm mortar rounds and FPV drones flying by. I just shared what I experienced there, as if I found myself in Krynky again. As for other songs... It happens very spontaneously. I can think of a melody. If it gets me, I continue, mostly in the night hours (if the situation is more or less calm) and mostly when there is no one around, no one bothering me... It turns out to be just a kind of emotion burst.

- You recently released a new track called Freedom. What is this song about?

- I dedicated it to Yevhen, my comrade-in-arms who died performing  a combat mission. I tried to convey his mode of thought, the way he lived, how he treated the war, his death and life.

- Do you have any "musical" plans for the future?

- I hope for the soon release of a song that was to have been released more than a year ago, but I couldn't finish it. This is a joint track with Khrystyna Panasiuk, called Home. When it comes out, you can listen.

- We will wait for your songs, for your successes as a commander. Can we wrap up the interview with a blitz?

- Yes.

- What is your most difficult choice in life?

- There is no such thing, a choice is a choice. There is no such thing as right choice. There is a choice and its consequences.

- What were you thinking about before withdrawal from Krynky?

- I was scared, afraid very much for my guys. I wanted all the guys who came with me there return back home alive.

- Do you believe in God?

- No, I don't.

- What sound do you associate with peace?

- Silence, perhaps silence. Come on, it's not sound, it's silence.

- Your favorite food at war?

- A hot dog with coffee at a gas station.

- What word best describes your current mission?

- Victory.

- What do you regret the most?

- Lost comrades. The war introduced me to lots of amazing people whom I would not have met otherwise. Had it not been the war, I would never have even known these men. It would be better if I never met them, and there would have been no war and they would have been alive.

- What inspires you the most?

- Great deeds of ordinary people.

- What super power would you like to have on the battlefield?

- Never make mistakes.

Interviewed by Diana Slavinska

Photo Credit: Illya Rusachkov