b. c. 1982
Yevhen Mezhevikin
Tank commander “Adam”, Hero of Ukraine
Why is a tank officer called “Adam”? Because he is always the first into battle. In autumn 2014 Yevhen Mezhevikin of the 93rd Brigade drove ammunition and water to the defenders of Donetsk airport by tank and knocked out enemy tanks by the terminals. Hero of Ukraine (2015).
Key accomplishments
- Graduated from the Kharkiv Institute of Tank Troops (2004) and served in the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade
- In autumn 2014 led tanks carrying ammunition and fuel to Donetsk airport and covered the convoys; with his crews destroyed at least five enemy tanks
- Hero of Ukraine with the Gold Star order (decree No. 584/2015 of 14 October 2015)
- Holder of all three classes of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi
- From March 2022, commander of Tactical Group “Adam”, which fought in the Kyiv region, around Bakhmut and in the Kharkiv counteroffensive
Why “Adam”
In the Bible, Adam is the first man on earth. It is also what people call Yevhen Mezhevikin, because he is always the first into battle.
Yevhen was born in russia and decided as a teenager that he wanted to be a soldier. In 1999 he entered the Kharkiv Institute of Tank Troops, graduated in 2004 as a weapons engineer and joined the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade. That is where the war found him in 2014.
A tank with a “backpack”
Adam’s tank led a battalion of the 79th Brigade into the terminals of Donetsk airport as reinforcements at the end of September 2014. The defenders there at the time were special forces of the 3rd Regiment, under the command of Oleksandr Trepak. Around the same time, by the old terminal, Mezhevikin’s crew knocked out two enemy tanks; the burnt-out hull of one of them stood on the runway for a long time afterwards. Among the airport’s defenders then was his former classmate, 93rd Brigade company commander Serhii Kolodii, who was killed there on 28 September 2014.
Then came the supply runs under fire. Behind the turret the crews built a huge “backpack”: weapons, grenades, mines, fuel and water, all lashed down with rope. The tank led the convoy, and while the soldiers unloaded, it drew the enemy’s fire. Later Mezhevikin pulled the tanks out of the terminals to positions nearby and started “tank carousels”: several groups took turns rolling out to fire on the enemy. Five destroyed enemy tanks could be confirmed for certain, along with armored vehicles and mortars.
On 14 October 2015 Major Mezhevikin was made a Hero of Ukraine with the Gold Star order.
Group “Adam”
When the full-scale invasion began, volunteers gathered around Mezhevikin. At the end of February 2022 he repaired two training tanks and an infantry fighting vehicle and took them into battle. On 14 March Tactical Group “Adam” was formed: it helped free Irpin and Bucha, worked on getting troops out of Mariupol, defended the Bakhmut front and took part in the Kharkiv counteroffensive. As of November 2024, Colonel Mezhevikin was deputy head of the General Staff’s Main Directorate of Doctrine and Training.
Why it matters today
For the “cyborgs” at Donetsk airport, Adam’s tank was the road by which ammunition, fuel and water arrived. In 2022 he didn’t wait either: he repaired training tanks, led volunteers into battle, and his group helped free Irpin and Bucha. Later he began passing on what he learned to the people who train new crews. His nickname is a reminder to everyone: someone has to go first, so that others can follow.
