Russia hasn’t paused its offensive for a single day — it continues to shell towns and villages, kill civilians, and commit war crimes. Ukraine’s army is short on both manpower and weapons. Yet hundreds of thousands of citizens continue to defend the country and destroy the enemy. New leaders are working to improve the military’s sluggish structures, taking personal responsibility for the areas they command. The Ukrainian School of Political Studies (USPS) spoke with three of its alumni who are currently serving at the front about what matters most when leading people in combat — and how they feel at this stage of the war. Our next interviewee is Oleksandr Popov, commander of the 15th Artillery Reconnaissance Brigade Chornyi Lis (Black Forest).
After 23 years in uniform, little surprises Oleksandr Popov anymore. He speaks candidly about the flaws within the massive military system. In 2022, he took command of the 15th Artillery Reconnaissance Brigade Chornyi Lis, which was formed after the start of the full-scale invasion from both experienced military personnel and former civilians. People who hadn’t been connected to the army before approach difficult tasks differently, Popov says — and that’s exactly why, despite his extensive combat experience, he’s learned a lot from them.
The Chornyi Lis Brigade is the only unit in the Armed Forces of Ukraine responsible for artillery reconnaissance and operates across the entire front. The commander does not speak publicly about the specifics of this work. Instead, the 2024 USPS alumnus shares how reconnaissance technology has evolved over time — and what philosophy guides leadership in a military unit.
“When you come from a military family, your whole childhood is spent on a military base. Instead of being around kids in kindergarten, you’re hanging out with a soldier who’s driving a truck. During the day, your dad drops you off somewhere; in the evening, he picks you up. You simply can’t imagine any other kind of life.”
“At the end of eighth grade, my father called and asked, ‘So, have you actually decided to become a soldier?’ I was 14 at the time. I said, ‘Yes, of course.’ He replied, ‘Then in a week we’re going to submit your application to a military lyceum.’ That’s how I ended up at the Chernihiv Military Lyceum — where my journey with the army really began. Three years at the lyceum, then university. I chose the Sumy Military Institute of Missile Forces and Artillery, where I studied for four years. In 2007, it was disbanded. I finished my fifth year at the Lviv Institute of Ground Forces, which later became the National Academy.”
“In a sense, I’m a thoroughbred artillery reconnaissance officer — in all 23 years of my service, I’ve held only positions related to art recon. Not a single step aside, except for one 10-month deployment to Africa. I returned to Ukraine from that mission in May 2014. Just a week later, I reported to my unit at the Crimean isthmus near Chonhar. Due to the escalation and expansion of hostilities in the East, I was tasked with relocating from the isthmus to the front lines. And that’s when everything started to unfold… The East was a region I had never known before, where I had no ties — and now, I know it better than anywhere else.”
“Artillery reconnaissance has existed throughout Ukraine’s independence. But until 2014, we had a very outdated arsenal of weapons and equipment. Some pieces were so old they were essentially unusable. There was also no real combat or psychological preparation for what was about to happen. The understanding of how to fight — and what to do to complete a mission while also staying alive and preserving your weapons and gear — only came on the battlefield.”
“Today, artillery reconnaissance has reached an entirely new level — light-years ahead of where we were in 2014. We started receiving our first drones in 2015. Before that, they seemed distant and almost unreal. That same year, we also received our first American radar systems. Later came new optical reconnaissance tools, rangefinders, and surveillance devices. Software development began as well — and it made a huge difference. Kropyva maps, the Delta situational awareness system — these are the tools that artillery, and especially artillery reconnaissance, rely on first.”
“There are no better unmanned aerial systems than Ukrainian ones! Some of the systems we have are miles ahead of their foreign counterparts — which we also use. I’m talking about electronic warfare tools, signals intelligence systems. In 2022, we had just a few of them. Now it’s all been scaled up.”
“Until 2022, we were fighting with outdated scrap — but we held the line, using up whatever was left in reserve. The Russians, by contrast, came in with brand—new equipment. But that ‘new gear’ is gone now. They’re pulling whatever they can from storage depots at full speed. And while Russia is trying to ramp up production, the truth is — no matter what their propaganda says — they are already feeling the real consequences of this war.”
“Our brigade was formed on 15 March 2022. At the time of its creation, we were carrying out tasks in Kyiv. Initially, I was the chief of staff in charge of its formation. Then we moved on to unit coordination, and starting in May 2022, our teams were deployed to the East and South.”
“On 10 August 2022, I became the brigade commander. 99% of our personnel come to the unit voluntarily. Word of mouth is a powerful tool — every one of our service members has their own network, and within those circles are people who are a good fit for us. We also post our vacancies on various platforms, including work.ua, Lobby X, and DOU. Out of 20 applicants, we might select 5 to 7 — because operating high-tech equipment and weaponry requires specific skills. We recruit general roles like drivers and cooks through training centres.”
“What makes our unit unique is that it operates across a wide front in small groups. After the initial interview, everyone undergoes a psychological evaluation — because the internal atmosphere, the microclimate, is incredibly important. We have an in-house team of psychologists for that. Unfortunately, not every selected fighter lives up to expectations. In those cases, they are transferred to other military units. The 15th Brigade is not a place where someone can hide. Given the strength of the enemy, we’re expected not just to deliver results — but to deliver outstanding results and operate efficiently. That’s why it’s not enough for someone to just learn how to operate a system — they must constantly evolve. Even now, after 11 years of war, I still discover new things.”
“Once selected, newcomers first go through general military training. Then they return to the unit — where they’re trained to work with specific weapon systems. This isn’t because the BMTC (Basic Military Training Centre) is bad — it’s just that our weapons are highly specialised. Some systems exist only in our unit. Plus, there are many additional factors: logistics, tactical movement, camouflage, engineering equipment. We train them in all of it. Integration into the unit happens step by step.”
“When you’ve been fighting for a long time, everything actually becomes simpler. What used to seem overwhelming now feels like grabbing a coffee at a café. Issues are resolved at the level of platoon, battery, and battalion commanders. I set the direction and the pace and only deal with matters that require my personal intervention. The units themselves operate with a high level of autonomy.”
“I’ve learned a great deal from working with former civilians. The mindset and thought process of a military person and a civilian are fundamentally different. Military people live in their own bubble. They enter it on day one — the moment they step through the checkpoint of a military academy. I remember a case where a group of 18-year-olds was being lined up for their first trip to the mess hall. The sergeant gave them a marching command, they didn’t get it right, and he turned them around and yelled at them. Watching this from the side, I asked my first platoon commander, who was standing next to me, ‘Why are they being yelled at if no one ever taught them what to do?’ He looked at me and said, ‘You’re going to have a hard time in the army — you think too much.’”
“That moment helped me start to understand something. The philosophy of relationships within the military, shaped by years of training and service, tends to reduce creativity and individuality to zero. Because in the army, everything must be uniform, straight, and perpendicular. I felt like crying when a major — one of our instructors — would come in and say, ‘You need to approach this creatively!’ How can you approach something creatively when creativity has already been systematically killed? Some might say, ‘If you’re so smart, why have you been in the army for 23 years?’ But I’ve always tried to treat this internal surrealism like a quest — and that’s how I managed not to lose the ability to see.”
“The civilians who came into the army helped me realise that some things can actually be done very simply. In the military, the most basic task often turns into a huge problem. That’s why I spent a long time trying to absorb the civilian way of thinking and overlay it onto military knowledge. I encourage everyone: don’t create artificial problems for one another — take the shortest, simplest path. What surprises me is that some in the military, even after everything they’ve been through in this war, still haven’t adapted or changed themselves.”
“Two years ago, I still felt a surge of emotion when enemy equipment or personnel were destroyed. Now, I look at it calmly — like seeing a grocery store sign. No emotions at all. It’s just one of thousands of steps we have to take every single day to win.”
