Drafted into the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, he served as a battalion and regimental commander.

[1] At the school, he was promoted to unter-ofitser in July and in September graduated from an accelerated 4-month first level training course with the rank of praporshchik.

[2] In March 1916 he was placed at the disposal of the chief of staff of the 7th Army Corps of the 11th Army and seconded to the headquarters of the 34th Infantry Division until July, before being appointed a junior officer in a company of the 133rd Simferopol Infantry Regiment, serving as a platoon leader.

For distinguishing himself, Yushkevich was promoted to podporuchik in September and in October was awarded the Order of Saint Stanislaus, 3rd class with swords and knot.

In April 1920, he was appointed commander of the 2nd Separate Guard Battalion in Katerynoslav, and in June became head of a special purpose detachment.

From May 1921 he was head of the flying expeditionary detachment of the division, fighting against the remnants of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.

He transferred to become assistant commander of the 7th Rifle Division of the same district and graduated from KUVNAS at the Frunze Academy again later that year.

He was awarded the Order of Lenin for his actions, but upon his return from Spain was arrested by the NKVD on 8 August 1938 and imprisoned during the Great Purge.

In July, the corps fought in the Battle of Smolensk as part of the 19th Army, temporarily recapturing Yartsevo, for which Yushkevich was given the rank of major general on 7 August.

[3] Yushkevich led the army in the Rzhev–Vyazma Offensive in March 1943 and from April in defensive battles along the eastern bank of the Lovat River in the sectors of Kholm and Velikiye Luki as part of the Northwestern Front (then the Baltic from 13 October and 2nd Baltic from 20 October).