How Ukraines Most Elite Snipers Rewrote the Marksmans Handbook

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How Ukraine’s Most Elite Snipers Rewrote the Marksman’s Handbook

Elite Ukrainian army snipers tell Kyiv Post about their war job in an exclusive interview. It’s far better not to be seen and let someone else do the shooting, they said.

by Stefan Korshak | KYIV POST | August 3, 2023, 1:02 pm

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/20152

Federchuk singled out the Canada-manufactured Cadex Defence CDX-33 TAC rifle, in .338 Lapua Magnum [8.6x70mm] caliber, as a weapon available early in the war and particularly favored among Ukrainian shooters. US-made and Finnish sniper rifles such as the Barrett MRAD and Sako TRG, also mostly in .338 but some in .308 [7.62x51mm NATO], have excellent reputations in the AFU as well, Federchuk said.
 

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Nothing in their about rewriting anything. The only tactic mentioned is not shooting their rifle because they will get bombarded by artillery and automatic grenade launchers.
 
It’s far better not to be seen and let someone else do the shooting, they said

Federchuk singled out the Canada-manufactured Cadex Defence CDX-33 TAC rifle, in .338 Lapua Magnum [8.6x70mm] caliber, as a weapon available early in the war and particularly favored among Ukrainian shooters. US-made and Finnish sniper rifles such as the Barrett MRAD and Sako TRG, also mostly in .338 but some in .308 [7.62x51mm NATO], have excellent reputations in the AFU as well, Federchuk said.

Wait a minute. Is this a marketing strategy against the rifles? Laugh2

(Of course I'm joking)
 
Another article with some interesting pictures: https://www.businessinsider.com/ukr...ie-suits-but-keep-these-western-rifles-2023-8

First picture shows the muzzle brake installed in the wrong orientation - is this typical in Ukraine?

Another picture shows Desert Tech rifles with Vortex Razor scopes. Didn't realize they were fielding those.

They may not be officially fielding a variety of the precision rifles seen - I have heard stories directly from manufacturers that when the conflict kicked off in greater intensity, many precision rifles were either purchased or requisitioned from commercial retail gun stores.
 
They may not be officially fielding a variety of the precision rifles seen - I have heard stories directly from manufacturers that when the conflict kicked off in greater intensity, many precision rifles were either purchased or requisitioned from commercial retail gun stores.

I did hear that Ukrainian soldiers were buying their own firearms and kit. In addition, a variety of firearms were/are being supplied by their numerous allies. Ukraine literally has a smorgasbord of firearms from their allies.

The Snipex Alligator is alleged to be popular with Ukranian troops.



TDM
 
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If the story is accurate , it sounds like their role is more that of spotters or scouts whose primary purpose is to coordinate Artillery strikes , rather than being actual snipers .

That is common for western snipers as well. Sniping is only one of their roles, and arguably not the most important. It depends on the nature of the conflict.
 
If the story is accurate , it sounds like their role is more that of spotters or scouts whose primary purpose is to coordinate Artillery strikes , rather than being actual snipers .

That is common for western snipers as well. Sniping is only one of their roles, and arguably not the most important. It depends on the nature of the conflict.

Bingo.
 
“Stopping the modern Hitler”: snipers hold the line in Ukraine’s battle for survival
July 25, 2023
https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/07...old-the-line-in-ukraines-battle-for-survival/

Ukrainian snipers take out Russian colonels from 2.8 km away, save a battalion of 600 men from encirclement, and enable capturing Russian strongholds without a single KIA. Helping them achieve this is theology professor-turned sniper patron Yuriy Chornomorets, who crowdfunds bullets, scopes, and rifles for Ukraine’s victory: “Defending Ukraine is everyone’s business”

Yuriy Chornomorets, a professor of theology and religious studies at the Drahomanov Kyiv University, took up a sniper rifle when Russia invaded and drove out Russians from Chornobyl. Afterward, he became the patron of Ukrainian snipers, helping hundreds of sharpshooters all around the country (follow him on twitter and donate to him on ######: lauby@meta.ua).

We met Yuriy in our studio in Kyiv as part of the Patron Talks series, where Euromaidan Press supporters on Patreon meet incredible people who share incredible stories of Ukraine’s fight for survival. Become one of them or see other ways to support us here.


Warning: The Audio is totally whack on this video

Yuriy, how did a professor of theology become a sniper at the start of the Russian invasion?

Iused to shoot in my youth and I had those skills, and when the full-scale invasion started, I just took my rifle and went to war. When I came to the Ukrainian military base, they said that a scout detachment will arrive soon and that I would accompany them. First, only I accompanied them; then we created a sniper group of three. And we fought, near Kyiv, on the Irpin River, near Moshchun on the north-east, and then tried to take out Russians in the rear in Chornobyl. I liked to fight; I met extraordinary people and we managed to do a lot to defend Ukraine. (Read about Yuriy’s defense of Chornobyl in detail here).

When I lost my health, snipers from all over Ukraine started to ask me for help because I was the only sniper in Kyiv who knew about bullets. We started buying sniper rifles and have purchased 178 of them, as well as scopes, bullets, and everything else a sniper needs. We also bought 20 cars that are needed on the frontline. So, these are our achievements.

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Yuriy Chornomorets with a sniper rifle. Courtesy image

Snipers: second place in inflicting casualties

The last time that you spoke to Euromaidan Press, you said that helping snipers is the most cost-effective thing you can do for Ukrainian army, apart from artillery. Is that still true?

Judging from the casualties rates from our side and the Russian side, and according to the information from the medics, when it is relatively calm on the front lines:

-88% of casualties are from artillery.
-10% are from snipers.
-2% are from ordinary gunfire.

When the offensive starts either from the Ukrainian side or Russian sides, then the proportions are different, but in general, snipers are always in second place.

Very seldom does an attack continue when the snipers start shooting. Usually, the Russians retreat.

Another reason why snipers are important is that if the Russian attack is going on, and the Russians are trying to encircle Ukrainians, then snipers come to the scene. One of the effective ways to stop their attack, when there is not enough artillery or machine guns, is to use snipers in a direct attack. Very seldom does an attack continue when the snipers start shooting. Usually, the Russians retreat.

Additionally, during Ukrainian regular offensives, like it was near Kharkiv [in the fall of 2022], it is important to suppress the machine guns of the enemy, to hit their armored vehicles from Barrett .50 BMGs and capture them.

How is that possible? To capture armored vehicles from a sniper rifle? Tell us about that.

Well, sniper rifles of caliber .50 BMG penetrate the armor of the IFV. There are three types of American armor-piercing bullets. The explosion inside the IFV is like ball lightning; the vehicle stops, and you can shoot a few more times. But the main thing is that after capturing this vehicle, it can be easily repaired and used for attacks.

You mentioned special American bullets right now. I imagine that the right equipment is essential in your work. Could you tell us more about what sort of tools the snipers need?

First of all, we use American armor-piercing bullets, taking them from Browning machine guns. Not every bullet from those machine guns is suitable for our sniper rifles. So, our task is to find compatible ones and supply everyone.

Usually, we use an ordinary .50 BMG caliber sniper bullet to take out soldiers, we buy those every day and have purchased nearly 150,000 of those bullets. .416 Remington Magnum, .375 CheyTac, .338 Lapua Magnum are the most widespread calibers that we use, sometimes we buy thousands of those daily, especially now.

Overall, snipers shoot more in this war than in previous wars, and even more so during the counter-offensive. So, we need a lot of bullets, the demand is huge and we are forced to buy those every day, because otherwise the counter-offensive will stop.

Russians mined everything. This is even worse than during the Kursk battle, in World War II. They mined literally everything they could. They even mined their trenches. Even if you get to the enemy trench and jump into it, it doesn’t mean that you will survive. A Russian officer somewhere there can remotely activate all those mines along with Ukrainian soldiers and the remnants of Russian soldiers.

There are huge difficulties with the Russian mining, and it gets worse, becase Russians constantly disperse many bombs with the help of special devices on top of what is mined already. So, neither the military nor the infantry can move around freely.

Russians mined everything. This is even worse than during the Kursk battle, in World War II. They mined literally everything they could. They even mined their trenches.
 
Yuriy Chornomorets

We have special mines that can fire cumulative streams at targets 50-200 meters away. We shoot those mines into Russian positions to demine those mining fields. After the stream, a corridor up to 200 meters is demined and the assault infantry can use it. But this “road of life” is also under Russian fire.

That’s why snipers always stick close to assault infantry. They suppress Russian gunfire, and keep the Russians low. Then we have machine guns that help us, mortars, grenade launchers, everything works as one to suppress Russian fire and protect our assault units. And 1.5 kilometers away are Ukrainian tanks and armored vehicles.

That’s how we grind through Russian defense, and it is a very effective way to do that.

So, when we capture positions, that means Russians will start the massive counterattacks. And during them, the Russian forces actually have the highest casualty rate. Then, snipers work hard, taking out Russian soldiers day and night. And during these counterattacks, the Russians themselves trigger their own mines, as they are in a very mined area.

So, now we have a lot of wounded, but Russian army bleeds hard.

When we capture positions, Russians start massive counterattacks. During them, the Russian forces actually have the highest casualty rate. Then, snipers work hard, taking out Russian soldiers day and night.

I’ve also heard that snipers are essential for the work of sappers during the counteroffensive. Could you tell a bit about that?

Well, all our snipers must have another occupation. So, before the offensive, we had to demine those corridors for our people before the anti-tank trenches, then we had to put roughly a ton of explosives between two anti-tank trenches to blow that up and create demined paths. So, that’s what snipers also do.

This was only possible because snipers were covering the sappers who were implementing this, and were acting as sappers themselves, and this is why we have the movements forward in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Sniper groups: the most effective way for snipers to work
Tell us a bit about these sniper groups. How many people are in it, where do you find them? Are snipers in every brigade? What directions of the front are they in now?

When Russians first invaded Ukraine in 2014, we understood that snipers are very important, so we started to create groups of snipers, consisting of at least 6 or 10 people. Some of them use rifles with a caliber of .50 BMG, .375 caliber.

For those of us who don’t know: what is a .375 caliber, what is a .50 caliber?

.50 BMG is a long range bullet that helps us to strike Russian equipment and personnel in a 2 km range. And the .375 caliber, we mostly use Cadex rifles, allows us to shoot down Russian soldiers within 3 km. Last week we took out a Russian colonel who was almost 3 km from us in the Russian rear. And we also took out a Russian colonel across the river within a distance of 2.8 km.

We help talented people to realize their potential as snipers. They have been in the profession for 5 to 15 years. So we try to squeeze the most of the weapons that they have.

Apart from the core of super professionals who command sniper groups, there are also ordinary snipers, armed with Ruger .338 caliber rifles, or sometimes Savage rifles. And they also do a lot of work.

Everybody can take out targets within a 1.5 km range. We try to teach them to hit Russian soldiers within 2 km. It’s very important that they shoot not only during daytime but also at night, when they can eliminate a lot of enemies.

Such a group of snipers is always protected by our special operations forces, and is accompanied by at least two reconnaissance drones, two sappers, and two grenade launcher operators. Such a group can actually do a lot of different work during the offensive on the front lines and in the Russian rear.

We had times when a group like this, 30 people in a group, made raids inside the Russian controlled territories. The snipers took out the Russian soldiers who protected the bridges, blew up the bridges, which destroyed Russian logistics in those sectors. They also shot Russian tankmen during their lunch breaks, or blew up the tanks, or captured those tanks and came back to Ukrainian positions on them. All those people are heroes awarded with medals.

Many groups like this perform duties only with a direct order from the top commanders like General Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s land forces.

The less-famed sniper groups perform duties under the command of the brigade commanders. But the commanders of some platoons or battalions can’t just give orders to the sniper groups; they are basically elite troops.

So when the brigades that take part in the ongoing counter offensive were summoned, sniper groups were created within those brigades. There are 62 snipers for four brigades. We supply those guys with everything they need. Without our contribution and our involvement, they would lack sufficient equipment to operate.

Sometimes the brigade is still in reserve, but the snipers are already fighting. It is a common practice. During the battle for Bakhmut, many snipers were technically in reserve but fought for the defense Bakhmut. Right now, Ukrainian forces try to liberate the heights around Bahmut, encircle Bakhmut and snipers are there.

We support the snipers from the 3rd Assault Brigade who are there now, but of course, there are many more.

So, the biggest action is right now in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and even there we have sniper groups who are technically in reserve, but they are already on the front lines fighting. We have to support everyone, every group of snipers.

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Yuriy Chornomorets on one of his quests to find the right sniper rifle for Ukrainian snipers. Courtesy photo

You mentioned that there were cases where your snipers struck Russians from a distance of 3 km. That’s just amazing. And just today I read that a British newspaper reported that a sniper near Bahmut set a record shooting a Russian commander from a distance of 1.798 km. They said that this was the record. But you are telling right now that they shoot from even longer distances, from 2 and 3 km. That’s just incredible. Tell us, how does a sniper take out a Russian commander from a distance of 3 km? Take us through the process.

So we have to understand one thing, only geniuses can do that. Most of them were trained as snipers not only in Ukraine, but in the West as well. I have some people who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, protecting American convoys there. So it’s just a piece of cake for those people to eliminate targets within long range.

But we try all the time to train people, prepare them to hit targets within at least 2 km. We have a training ground in western Ukraine. Two European champions who work as instructors for the “novices” that are actually already successful snipers who already were at war, but want to become better and learn to shoot at further distances. We have a two-week course to help them to improve, and it takes a lot of work for them to be able to make that shot.
 
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