Defense Minister Rustem Umerov appointed Vadym Sukharevskyi as Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
On February 10, Sukharevsky was appointed one of the deputies of the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky. He was to be responsible for the direction of unmanned systems and the development of the use of drones.
On February 6, President Volodymyr Zelensky instructed to work on the issue of creating a separate type of force within the structure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - the Unmanned Systems Forces. Their goal is to increase the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the use of unmanned and robotic air, sea and ground systems, as well as ensure readiness for their intended use.
Sukharevskiy noted that the formation of the Unmanned Systems Forces will allow for improved training of drone pilots and their rotation at the front.
Vadym Sukharevskyi (call sign "Borsuk") is from Transcarpathia. He served in the 80th Separate Airmobile Brigade (now the Airborne Assault Brigade), and was also the commander of the 503rd OBMP, stationed in Mariupol.
Subsequently, Sukharevskyi became the chief of staff of the 35th separate marine brigade and the commander of the 59th separate motorized infantry brigade, which, after the start of the large-scale invasion, carried out combat missions in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.
In 2004, Sukharevskyi became the youngest Ukrainian peacekeeper in the Peacekeeping Mission in Iraq. There, he took part in the battle for the city of El-Kut.
He is also known as the officer who fired the first shot at the Russian invaders in the undeclared war in 2014. On April 13, 2014, near the village of Semenivka, near the then occupied Sloviansk, he took part in the first battle with the occupiers, violating the order not to open fire.
After that, he participated in the defense of Luhansk airport, the liberation of Sloviansk and Georgievka, and the raid of the Ukrainian military to demarcate the territory controlled by Ukraine and the lands captured by the occupiers.
