After nearly four years of service, Sergeant major Volodymyr Tkatch has a lot to say about how his battalion operates. Like most Ukrainian soldiers, Tkatch was a civilian before the war. He is therefore speaking as both a non-commissioned officer and a citizen, in the hope that his public criticism will ultimately contribute to the reform of the institution he serves and to Ukraine’s victory. Antoine Laurent met Tkatch in Kramatorsk. He was speaking in a personal capacity and declined to remain anonymous.
Volodymyr Tkatch, 57, has steady hands and the face of a preoccupied man. Like many Ukrainians of his generation, due to the post-Soviet crisis, he has held all kinds of jobs, including the most physically demanding ones.
He has been a farm worker, a lumberjack, a construction worker, and even a master builder—jobs that his studies in Russian language and literature at the University of Kamianets-Podilskyi hardly prepared him for, and most of which he did in Germany. He worked in Germany for nearly 25 years to support his wife and daughter, who remained in Ukraine.
From Maidan to Donbas
Despite his long stay abroad, Tkatch never considered leaving Ukraine for good. From December 2013 to January 2014, he took part in the Maidan Revolution and gave talks in Polish and German schools to raise awareness of this event among students.
“What can I say about Maidan? Let’s put it this way: it was a Ukrainian miracle. Yes, a Ukrainian miracle. We started talking about dignity, respect, and Ukraine. It certainly rekindled my hope that, perhaps, suddenly, this time would be the one that would lead us in the right direction,” recalls the man who, in 1992, left a shaky Ukraine without worrying too much about border formalities.
Returning to Ukraine in June 2014, Volodymyr Tkatch became involved in the political and cultural life of his country, which was in the midst of a democratic transition. At the age of 46, he embarked on a career as a freelance journalist for magazines Image.ua and Memorial. He covered the events of the first Donbas war as well as political life in the Ukrainian Parliament. At the same time, he continued to carry out assignments lasting several months in Germany.
“I had to finance my projects in Ukraine somehow,” he explains, as writing was a key part of those projects. In addition to his reporting, between 2014 and January 2022, he published four books. All written in Ukrainian, these works earned him admission to the National Union of Writers of Ukraine in May 2025, an adventure that would not have been possible, he recalls, without the support of his wife and daughter.
When the large-scale invasion broke out in February 2022, joining the army seemed to be the logical continuation of his commitment. After three unsuccessful attempts and a period of civilian volunteering, he joined the Ukrainian army in September 2022. He was awarded the rank of sergeant major, which he describes as “fairly recent” and which, according to NATO standards (adopted in Ukraine in 2019), corresponds to the Soviet rank he obtained during his military service. After a period of training, he was assigned to the 21st Special Missions Battalion, currently being integrated into the 3rd Army Corps.
The ubiquity of a sergeant major
Due to his rank, Volodymyr Tkatch finds himself at the crossroads between the men leaving for the front, non-combatant officers, and civilian volunteers, both Ukrainian and foreign, who are helping the military. He coordinates the actions of fighters and ensures that they have the equipment, information, and orders necessary to carry out their missions.
“In theory, my responsibilities can be summarized in four lines […]. In practice, it’s completely different,” he says as the alarm sounds outside. From February 2024 to March 2025, he explains, six officers succeeded one another at the head of his company, and the position of political officer [zampolit, a rank inherited from the Soviet period that today corresponds to an administrative function] remained vacant.
As a result, Tkatch had to perform a wide variety of tasks for over a year. “Here is the list of tasks [I was] actually responsible for: ordering and obtaining weapons and ammunition, ensuring that fighters were supplied with food and water, providing them with medical and psychological support, communicating with the families of missing or fallen soldiers, sometimes helping to organize funerals, and liaising with all the battalion’s services [Editor’s note: some 950 men]. In addition to this, I had to liaise with the finance department if someone hadn’t received their payment, etc. Finally, if someone needed to go somewhere, I would drive them,” he lists, his firm voice tinged with weariness.
The list is long but not exhaustive: Volodymyr Tkatch is also responsible for nominating soldiers for awards, a task he performs rigorously. “Before I took on this role, only three or four people had been awarded medals,” he says. Since 2022, his unit has been deployed to some of the fiercest combat zones, including Bakhmut, Pokrovsk, and Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast.
“At present, most of those involved in combat operations have received awards,” says the non-commissioned officer. Although he was deployed to the front line during the first months of the conflict, he, like most soldiers of his rank, no longer participates in such missions.
Red tape
It is all the more difficult to carry out these various tasks, he says, because they require compliance with time-consuming administrative procedures, to the point that he has no hesitation describing the Ukrainian army as a “paperwork monster.” “In the three years since the battalion was formed, to give you an idea, we have filed more than 600 reports to remove equipment from our inventory.”
However, he explains, none of these efforts have yet been successful, due to the complexity of the procedures to be followed, for which neither he nor his superiors have been trained. As a result, all the equipment that the unit has been unable to dispose of must be kept… and transported with them every time they move. “My colleague Ostap [pseudonym] and I are real workhorses,” emphasizes Volodymyr, who points out that he spends an enormous amount of time moving “tons of everything and anything,” including items that have been unusable for months.
This process slows down the renewal or acquisition of equipment. War is a matter of emergencies, but ordered goods can take months to arrive. In the inventory, he sighs, “it appears that we have this or that equipment, but in reality, this is not or no longer the case. One person knows about it, another doesn’t, then a third person shows up to inquire about the situation. And the cycle starts all over again. We spend so much time on this…“
”It’s certainly easier to work with volunteers, especially if they don’t need an official request from the unit [Editor’s note: to deliver equipment],” says Sergeant major Tkatch. In his view, “it’s been a long time since the state should have taken over all the functions performed by volunteers.” Despite all this, he concludes with a wry smile, “commanders spend their time asking around what exactly I do.”
The military hierarchy in question
He says this issue organization and internal communication can be explained by the lack of experience and competence of some officers. “The previous commander of my company, before being entrusted with the responsibility of hundreds of lives, was a bicycle salesman. Nothing interested him except eating and sleeping. In cases like this, someone has to carry out orders, right?” he says ironically and irritably. He remembers that at the age of 19, he completed his military service with honors because he was so disciplined.
“Since 2022,” he continues, “it has been clear that there is a serious shortage of officers of an appropriate level, even among the lowest ranks. Those who are appointed as officers sign their contracts because they obviously don’t want to become ordinary soldiers. But not everyone can be an officer. I think this is a widespread problem.“ The reason for this lack of competence is, in his view, very clear: these appointments are, at least in part, based on favoritism. ”In our society, that’s how it works, through connections,” he states coldly.
Despite reforms, he continues, there are still too many officers who are often very young, which undermines the effectiveness of the command, especially since some tend to forget the real reason for their presence in the army. “As tragic as it may seem, they are building their careers, excellent careers. They are living better than ever before, receiving privileges, money […]. Basically, they are not interested in a quick end to the war,“ he analyzes, his voice already indignant. ”To put it another way, you have a weakened old man fighting, and five healthy young men explaining in interviews that they could do better than him… while they are not fighting.”
From his point of view, the widespread appearance of these young promoted officers dates back to the winter of 2023-2024. This period corresponds to the reshuffle of the senior military hierarchy that led to the appointment of General Oleksandr Syrskyi as Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. General Syrskyi’s conduct of operations has been criticized on several occasions by former and active military personnel and members of Ukrainian civil society.
Assumed disobedience
As a result of this system, Volodymyr Tkatch claims, soldiers and non-commissioned officers sometimes receive absurd orders with potentially disastrous human and tactical consequences. Therefore, he continues, “in my unit, I do my best not to pass this burden on [to the soldiers].” In other words, this sometimes means refusing to carry out an order or taking certain liberties with the responsibilities of one’s duties.
“I have an example that I can be proud of. It was in January 2024,” he recalls. His unit was deployed to the Hoverla position in the Vesele area [Donetsk Oblast]. “We had suffered heavy losses in record time. I was ordered to prepare 10 new recruits [Editor’s note: with no combat experience] to go to the front […]. They arrived on January 15. On the 16th, we were supposed to send them into a field littered with corpses […]. I listened carefully to [my superior] and replied, ‘I understand, and I will not carry out this order. I would like to point out that this is simply murder, it is a crime.”
Sergeant major Tkatch ultimately prevailed. “Those 10 [soldiers] are still alive today,” he concludes, focused on this memory. He has many similar examples in mind. In January 2024, for example, he was tasked with organizing the relief of a group of soldiers deployed at a certain point on the front line.
After checking, he realized that the position in question had not been occupied by the Ukrainian army for two weeks. A misjudgment, common in his opinion, that could have cost the lives of an entire relief group. Another example. In January 2024, and then in June 2025, wounded soldiers were stranded on the front line for several days without any order to evacuate them. Volodymyr and his colleagues then pretended to organize a relief operation so that they could be rescued.
“Among the simplest examples, he continues, I quite regularly find that a soldier who is due to be deployed to the front line that evening is genuinely ill. I take him to see the doctor in time for them to issue a prescription for treatment in Kyiv.”
Relentless decisions
Sometimes, however, orders come from too high up for a non-commissioned officer to oppose them. “In November or December [2024],” he says angrily, “we had to send people to the military training ground at night and others to the front line in the middle of the afternoon [Editor’s note: which increases the risk of bombardment by the Russian army].”
Apart from orders that he sometimes considers absurd, he denounces the lack of coordination between the different units, a phenomenon for which men of his rank have fezw solutions. In his view, this is why the Ukrainian army lost so much ground while defending the area around Pokrovsk.
“When we were there, there was absolutely no coordination, no information sharing between the different units. That’s why we lost so many towns in that direction, simply because, for some reason, there was no one [to defend them],” he recalls. “Pokrovsk will remain a sad chapter […]. When we arrived, the war was imperceptible there…” Fighting is now raging in the city itself, already largely conquered by the Russian army, while a group of Ukrainian soldiers is reportedly at least partially surrounded in Myrnohrad, a neighboring town.
Pressure and awards
Within his hierarchy, Volodymyr’s positions are not always welcome. It is not uncommon for him to be subjected to “psychological pressure” from his superiors. This, he says, manifests itself in a sudden overload of work, where he is forced to carry out certain secondary tasks in the middle of the night. “But I can also come up with good ideas in return,” adds the hard-rock fan with a strong character, with a restrained laugh.
Without elaborating, Volodymyr admits that, for a time, he feared for his physical safety. During the winter of 2024-2025, “while defending Krasnohorivka [Donetsk Oblast, near Pokrovsk], he recalls, “it was terrifying […] . You felt that something could happen to you from behind. You can really sense that kind of thing.”
However, Sergeant major Tkatch has no intention of giving up the role he has taken on, because reprimands and feelings of insecurity are not the only consequences of his actions. “I think [the officers] understand. If they didn’t, I would have been eaten up long ago,” says the man who has been awarded several medals since 2022.
In May 2024, he was awarded the Gold Cross by order of the Chief of Staff for taking command of his company in the absence of the officer normally assigned to that position. A few months later, as a token of gratitude for taking on these responsibilities, “the battalion commander shook my hand in public and said, ‘We are very grateful to you,’” Volodymyr recounts with a touch of irony.
“When I came back from the recruitment office after enlisting,” he concludes, “my daughter, who was already pregnant, asked me, ‘Dad, why don’t you ask to be an officer?’” I could have been an officer, that’s obvious. Here’s the answer I gave her: when a young, inexperienced officer gives a stupid order, there has to be someone who says ‘Yes, sir’ and then doesn’t carry out the order […]. I don’t regret my choice.”
Not giving in to defeatism
Faced with the difficulties he encounters, Volodymyr sometimes asks for help outside his unit. In January 2024, together with his company’s lieutenant, he alerted the relevant government departments to the unsustainable level of losses his unit was suffering at the ill-fated Hoverla position. Of the 128 men his company should have had, only 15 remained fit for combat.
“As a result, our battalion was sent for restructuring,” he recalls. “We had been decimated. Without that call, we would not have been withdrawn from there.” But most of the time, the sergeant major adds, these reports are sent “into a vacuum […]. In theory, he continues, “we can report problems. But this has no effect.” A few months later, his company was reduced to 12 men. Despite his repeated reports, the unit was assigned to defend Pokrovsk for three months.
The picture looks bleak. However, it takes more than that to demoralize him. “Hope despite everything,” he sums up with a smile, “despite the adversity, the Ukrainian army remains the best in Europe”. Tkatch is convinced that there are solutions to these internal problems.
Remaining faithful to his cause
He says the key to these problems would be to restore respect for soldiers “as it existed in 2022”; because since then, “there has been a noticeable regression,” he says bitterly. “Respect, dignity, humanity […]. If we lose our humanity, all these horrible losses, all these children killed… none of it will make any sense. We must preserve this humanity […]; after all, we came here to defend it. We must not forget that,” insists the former Maidan activist.
He believes that such a shift would help rebuild trust between the civilian population and the army, a necessary step in addressing one of the main challenges facing the institution: attracting new recruits. Respect for individuals, adds Tkatch, who struggles to believe in the validity of forced mobilization, needs to be translated into action: taking assignment requests into account during recruitment, paying combatants better, and ensuring more regular relief for combatants deployed on the front line when conditions allow…
This last point, he says, deserves particular attention, as endless deployments tend to undermine soldiers’ morale. In the spring of 2024, he says, a group of soldiers from his company remained on the front line for 67 days. In August, the newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported on a group of fighters who had just returned from a 99-day mission.
Here again, Volodymyr Tkatch insists, solutions, including short-term ones, could be considered. Some of the “more than 300,000 police officers” employed by the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs could be mobilized, and thousands of military personnel in administrative roles could be replaced by civilians. “Many people may consider linking their lives and careers to the army,” he says, “provided that the state offers them appropriate guarantees.” He adds that some units have already implemented a more efficient military operation that is more respectful of their men. This is reportedly the case with the 43rd Artillery Brigade and the Neptune detachment of the Marine Corps.
Politics and literature
Finally, Volodymyr Tkatch points out that a significant increase in military aid and political support from Ukraine’s allies is more necessary than ever, because the goal of the Ukrainians’ struggle, he says, should not be to hold the front indefinitely, but “to end this war with a victory”, and to do so “as quickly as possible,” not only to spare the lives of soldiers and civilians, but also to prevent the undue rise of officers such as those targeted by his grievances from spreading, in the long term, to the political world… where, he fears, they will undoubtedly continue their careers once they are demobilized.
Volodymyr Tkatch also entertains political ambitions. He says he has been approached by an opposition party with a view to the upcoming legislative elections, and that he is considering setting up his own party. “I say this as a former foreman: you need a vision. You have to imagine what you want to build. It can’t be perfect; corrections will have to be made as the project makes progress, but there must be an overall vision, a principle behind what we want to build,” he says, as if to sum up his criticism of the Ukrainian political class, which he believes is quick to criticize but too slow to remedy.
“I believe in a Ukrainian cosmos, in a Ukrainian universe. However, our nation, our state, remains on the margins of this universe; but the universe is infinite. That is why our people and our state will eventually, in one way or another, launch themselves into this infinity… and Ukraine will become a great country,” continues Volodymyr Tkatch, who has clearly not lost his imagination despite the war.
“Of course, I have a few notes, a few thoughts that I jotted down during my service…” he says, before detailing the themes of the next books he would like to write. One of them could be about Archduke Wilhelm Franz of Austria1, heir to the House of Habsburg, who, at the end of the First World War, became passionately committed to the cause of Ukrainian independence, in the chaotic context of the reconfiguration of Eastern Europe’s borders…
Antoine Laurent is a freelance journalist. A contributor to the Swiss bimonthly Echo Magazine, the Italian media Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa, and other publications on a more ad hoc basis (Le Courrier de Genève, Linkiesta, etc.).