[1] In the wake of the 1905 Revolution, he joined the Union of Poor Peasants and participated in its campaign of expropriations, during which he became experienced in intelligence gathering.

As part of this group, he became a close friend of Nestor Makhno, later joining his insurgent movement during the Ukrainian War of Independence.

[6] Together with Karetnyk and Chubenko,[7] he participated in the arrest and execution of the leaders of the Polonsky conspiracy, a Bolshevik attempt to assassinate the insurgent high command.

[8] This affair led to the dissolution of the Kontrrazvedka and its replacement with the Commission for Anti-Makhnovist Activities, which Vasylivsky joined, along with Halyna Kuzmenko and Nazarii Zuichenko.

[6] On 16 November 1920, when Vasylivsky heard that Semen Karetnyk's detachment had breached the White defenses at Perekop, he declared the end of the Starobilsk agreement and predicted that the Bolsheviks would attack them within the week.