How Ukraines Most Elite Snipers Rewrote the Marksmans Handbook

[joe6167]

You have to do a lot of preparations, study the territory where you will operate. For instance, within 2 km the wind changes its direction several times. You need to spend at least 1 or 2 days just studying the landscape and the location, how the wind changes and stuff like that, and make the shot when the time comes.

However, our people try to perform tasks that they can actually do right now with their skills and understanding of the process. If they cannot shoot at long distances, we send them to the forests of Kreminna in Luhansk Oblast, where the distance of the average shot is 400-600 m. There, even young snipers can eliminate at least three Russian invaders in a day.

And the main task there is not only to shoot, but escape from mortars. Because after two-three shots you have to relocate: Russian recon drones try to spot you and try to coordinate mortar fire against you. The guys lose a lot of weight there, not just because they need to run a lot in the forest, but because they are so nervous. But they are really successful in what they are doing in those forests in Kreminna. And afterward, they are able to operate within a longer range. For young snipers like that, a shot within 1.5 km range is a new record. They usually use Savage rifles.

Snipers are crucial for reconnaissance

So how do you spot a Russian commander from 3 km?

We have excellent optics. We have 60x riflescopes that help us even to see if a man has shaved or not. Also we have good sights for the sniper rifles.

And we have good optics for sniper rifles. NightForce, Mark 5 Leupold, Mark Gen III. We can not only shoot a person 3 km away, but, importantly, we can do reconaissance very effectively.

A Nightforce ATACR scope purchased for Ukrainian snipers. Courtesy photo

During our successful counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast in autumn 2022, one of our sniper groups moved from Sviatohirsk through the National Reserve, and climbed on a cliff, and saw how Russians fortified their positions around one of the villages 6 km away. This was their main position near Lyman and Yampil, which Ukrainian forces had to liberate. The Russians were relaxed; yet, we could see everything. We could see their minefields. We could see the machine guns. The Russians thought that since there were no drones visible, nobody could see them.

But the snipers did. They completely mapped the position, developed routes which Ukrainian battalion groups could use, and headed the three columns that unexpectedly liberated three villages from the Russians. Ukrainians had many losses before they came here, but they captured these three villages, where the Russians had the main line of defense, within just half and hour and with only three wounded.

So, reconaissance is one of the main benefits of snipers. A sniper is a commander’s chief assistant. He can notice everything and suggest how to react. Sometimes our snipers even became commanders on the battlefield, because they had more information than the commanders.

The Russians thought that since there were no drones visible, nobody could see them. But the snipers did.

This is what happened near Huliai Pole, when the Russians attacked our positions six times in 20 hours. The head of the sniper group was commanding the artillerymen of the 57th brigade. In the headquarters at night, the brigade commander told him “I can give you the Hero of Ukraine award, you saved us! If not for you, we would have needed to retreat to Dnipro.” And the sniper says, “I don’t want the award, just give me a tank.” So they actually gave him a tank that was captured from the Russians.

Amazing. Let’s say you’re a sniper who wants to take out a Russian commander. How do you know who is the commander in the group?

So those people are very skillful, some of them are officers, some are sergeants. And when we have a talented person with huge experience, we give him an opportunity to create his own group. So he summons guys into his group. Only two snipers whom I started to help with by crowdfunding and supplies had their own groups; others had to create them from scratch, and we pushed them into that direction. We had two reasons to do that.

With an experienced commander, a group of 6-10 people, the newcomers survive. This is very beneficial to us, as cynical as that might sound. It takes a lot of time and resources to train and prepare a sniper. Sometimes we had people who were tremendously successful at the training ground, but lasted only one day at the battlefield. Russians have a strong sniper school themselves. They have developed counter-sniper measures; so you have chance to be effective and survive only in a group of snipers. Experience that you can’t get on a training ground is needed. So we forced those experienced snipers to create groups just to help our guys to learn and survive.

The effectiveness according to statistics shows that two young snipers can achieve tenfold more results within a sniper’s group than if they just went out to the battlefield themselves. This is impressive. That’s why we pay attention to creating those sniper groups.

In fact, there exists a textbook written in the Ukrainian Army, based on the “small war” with Russia between 2014-2021 and eperience of snipers within the American special operations forces, clearly states that Ukraine needs to create sniper’s group to be more effective. We were not aware of that book, and so when we started to create sniper’s groups in April 2022, it was chaotic, as we didn’t have enough information. We just did what we thought was effective, and it worked.

The snipers survive, they prevent the encirclement of entire battalions. I have a group of ten snipers in the 95th brigade who saved a battalion of 600 people from encriclement and death. This is the result of one day of their work.

So that’s how we realized that we have to create those groups everywhere where we can. And after that, I get sent this book, which had already written about all that. We arrived to this through experience. It was funny (laughs).

I have a group of ten snipers in the 95th brigade who saved a battalion of 600 people from encriclement and death. This is the result of one day of their work.

So we try our best to multiply those groups. For instance, we enlarged one of the groups from 6 people to 62 people, and we have many subgroups like that that work very effectively. So we do our best to supply everyone with everything they need. But when a sniper or a couple of snipers work alone and they want our help, we say, hey guys, sorry, but our priority are sniper groups. We support people like that if they are somewhere in hot spots like Bakhmut or other places where heavy fighting is going on. We support them, of course, because we don’t have the heart to refuse them. But we understand that it’s not right if only one sniper or two snipers are working in a team. There has to be a group of at least six.

 

[joe6167]

Who makes a good sniper?

You have to be born a sniper. We have good snipers out of those guys who took part in the war since 2014. We also have good snipers who previously were hunters. And in the third place are sportsmen. Sportsmen need to actually do a lot to retrain. We actually retrained a biathlone world champion. It was hard for him to get used to the trigger of the sniper rifle, then it took a lot of time for him to learn how to actually get to the position without being noticed, and most importantly — how to leave the position without being noticed.

Most snipers with little experience were killed while they were leaving their position. The components of a successful sniper are:

20% — shooting ability, when you and the rifle become one, when you can breathe in the right way;
20% — camouflage on their positions;
20% — getting to the position without being noticed;
20% — leaving the position without being noticed;
20% — recon skills of a sniper.

Camourlage is important for a sniper’s work. Courtesy image

Snipers direct artillery fire, they coordinate artillery. Often, it’s more advantageous not to shoot yourself but ask the artillery to hit the targets you have noticed. And to notice them, you need to think like a scout. This is easier for hunters than for athletes. Or a person is a warrior who shoots well and a sniper can grow from that.

Night snipers are mostly women

Snipers who work at night come from different professional backgrounds. There are those who were journalists, social activists. They have money for semi-automatic rifles, good night sights. And they shoot enemy groups every night. Most of these night snipers are girls. When it comes to long-range snipers, I have only three girls, but the night snipers are mostly women. And we support them first of all, respect their choice to go protect their homeland. We always give them the best sights, the best rifles. These girls can always address us and we will always help them. We respect everyone, all those experienced guys, but these girls are our top priority, we can’t refuse them. They are amazing, simply holy women.

So these night snipers, what distance do they shoot?

600 meters. But we give them equipment for shooting within 800 meters. We also have night vision for snipers that can help them reach 1 km. The Ukrainian army has better equipment and night vision. The Serge Marko Group has rifles that allow them to eliminate targets within 1.5 or 2 km range during night time. It depends heavily on the scopes they use. We do all we can, our guys can shoot at 1 km at night. To raise that number to 2 km, we would need to supply them with scopes that cost $17,000 instead of $4,000, but this is not justified. But every group has night vision scopes that help strike targets 1 km away, or night vision add-ons. If your group doesn’t have that equipment, it is simply exposed to a deadly threat and can be eliminated.

We also equipped the machine guns accompanying this group with night vision. They have to be ready for an unexpected night attack.These sights cost $3,700. It’s not that expensive, actually. And the machine gunners can fire during the day with these night vision scopes. All of our scopes work two-way like that. Sometimes we have a situation when you just can’t spot a Russian amid the trees and bushes. You can see some wind blowing, but you don’t know if there is a movement of anyone there. Then we just use thermal sights and our group understands if there is an enemy soldier there.

How many snipers have you supported during this war?

We bought 178 rifles and at least 100 sights. Around 50 rifles were supplied from the Ukrainian state, quite good ones, Barrets usually, but they didn’t have sights with them. And we equipped them with sights, this was very effective. More than 50 guys who became snipers, they just bought rifles. But they didn’t have money for sights, so they asked me to help them. Plus, we trained a lot of people. So, we helped more than 400 people. It is hard to say, because it depends on how you calculate it. I write down everything, but calculations are approximate… Sometimes I even forget that I already gave a sight for a guy. Sometime’s it’s funny: I contact him to give him a sight and he has one already. We have a lot of work.

Yuriy Chornomorets holds two Ruger rifles destined for Ukrainian snipers groups. Courtesy photo

We buy rifles and sights in Ukraine and in Western Europe. We equip sniper systems all the time. Very often, a rifle won’t show what it is capable of if you don’t work on improving it. So, we address professionals to remodel those rifles; this takes 2-7 days. The rifle gets perfected and shows its maximum. Sometimes, the guys say, hey, we need a Ruger 338 rifle with a range of 1.5 km. We go to the professionals, with the sights, silencers. They deconstruct and reassemble those rifles, and pick a special bullet for them. The outcome: we have a guy who shoots within a 2 km range.

So, we squeeze everything we can from those rifles, because they should be as effective as they can get. It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, but it’s worth it.

 

[joe6167]

“We want to stop the modern fascists”

An opinion exists, especially in religious circles, that war is bad. And it would be better if there just was no war, no matter what the peace is. Like, we should just stop shooting and that will be the lesser evil. What would you tell these people?

We want to stop the modern Hitler. We want peace. We don’t want war. And if the Russian front collapses and they just surrender, it would be better. We do our best to make them collapse morally, emotionally, so that these modern fascists would capitulate. I want to remind you that during World War I in 1917, the Russian front simply collapsed and they just went home. And now, all those Western-supplied weapons and missiles, they exert enormous pressure on them. Judging by their intercepted calls, we hear this is weighing on them. They are afraid of HIMARS, those missiles, and they complain about them.

And second, they say they are afraid of snipers. Wherever snipers appear, they start talking to each other, just saying that they need to leave their positions. It is very important to us: all those Western missiles, modern sniper rifles are tools that helps us reach a breaking point at the front. And this is paramount: a war dragging out for years like the war between Iraq and Iran is not the scenario we need. They had a war that lasted for nine years, and millions of people died. Why do we need a war like that in Europe? I do not understand. We need this war to stop this year. And one of the tools that helps us to achieve that, to pressure them, is the work of our snipers.

A Ukrainian sniper can sow panic among the Russian invaders. Courtesy photo

Russians believe in their propaganda. They became barbarians under the influence of their propaganda. Wherever they come, they want to destroy and kill. To stop such fascists, we need to apply this restricted violence. In a way, we are like the police of the civilized world that stops a criminal. And the faster we do that, the better, because fewer people will die, not only Ukrainians but Russians too. And this will help them to understand that they have to change. They have to transform their state and their mindset.

This is very important. Russians will never become a nation like the Germans, who underwent denazification and are an inherent nation of the Western world. But the time will come and they can change; they can become some peaceful nation, like the Mexicans, who have their national cuisine, spirit, their traditions — everything they love. But attacking other countries wouldn’t be a part of their culture anymore.

It’s vital that they arrive at this normalization faster. And snipers help us push them in that direction, to realize that they are a wealthy country, that they don’t have to attack anyone and can live like people in Saudi Arabia. “Why should we attack anyone? We can live like a normal society without any aggression. Why should we and others suffer?” That’s what Russians should eventually come to think.

Actually, Ukrainians are not the only victim of Russian aggression; the Russians themselves are, too. It’s phenomenal: they simply expose themselves to suffering. This is avoidable, and we have to stop that. And this can be stopped if they capitulate. There is no other way.

Question from Euromaidan Press patron: Where, how do you get support buying ammunition daily? Is there no military supply?

The army also does a lot. Very often we create a sniper group, and half of that is supplied by the Ukrainian Army. Mainly thanks to US President Biden. And we supply the other half.

So every time the army can cover those expenses and supply those groups, they do it. But when it is already clear that the state is not coping, I don’t know why, society joins the efforts. Ukraine is a bright illustration of how effective civil society defending itself can be. Defending Ukraine is not only the responsibility of the state, it’s everyone’s business.

How can Ukraine’s international friends best support you and Ukrainian snipers?

First of all, donate to my ######: all the money is used for helping them, without any expenses for operations. The more we fundraise, the more capable, professional people can receive the weapons and ammunition we buy in the EU and Ukraine.

Also, of course, I would really like you to encourage your governments to help Ukraine more.

A great European war is going on now in Ukraine, a war of barbarism against civilization. It must end this year because otherwise, it will undermine the entire world order, the entire global economy, all the balances that exist in the world, in Europe. It is more beneficial to invest more in helping the Armed Forces of Ukraine now, while our professional military has not yet been killed, so this war does not drag on for ten years and doesn’t exhaust the entire region and, more broadly, the entire Western world.

It seems that now that Ukraine needs huge resources, the same F-16s, the same deliveries of some sniper rifles by the hundreds… but in fact, this is not that much compared to the efforts that would have to be made, first, to support Ukraine if the war suddenly drags on for ten more years, and secondly, compared to the efforts that would have to be spent on the problems caused by both the food crisis and the migration crisis as a result of the food crisis in many countries.

We all live in a small village, where everything is interconnected, and if such a huge battle takes place in one of the houses, then accordingly, it can affect the whole world very negatively.

We must not leave unprovoked aggression unpunished. This is very important. The subject who started the unprovoked aggression, a barbarian who puts destruction as his highest value, must see the limits, where the civilized world says, “No, we will not allow such barbarism and unprovoked aggression, and we will accordingly punish this crime.” This is necessary so that the terrorist state sees the adequate reaction of the world community.

This is a war of a terrorist state against the victim of aggression, which did not provoke this aggression in any way, but on the contrary, has pursued a policy of constant concessions for decades.

Russians have become such ultra-fascists, rejecting all rational reasons and praising naked violence as the ultimate value; it is considered a criterion of truth, and accordingly, we see all this in Russian reality, in Russian propaganda.

So, of course, we would like all Western societies to put pressure on their governments to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine more, and civil societies, everyone could also unite.

And if ordinary citizens of the West cannot buy tanks for the Armed Forces of Ukraine or planes, it is legally difficult, then purchasing the best available sniper rifles is absolutely possible.

They must confront this terrorist state that preaches that violence is a very good thing.

And this will also be an important factor in defeating this fascist aggressor. It seems to me that it is extremely important now to unite and provide such popular assistance.

 

[Thomas D'Arcy McGee]

Both kthomas and Dragunov are banned now! I did not realize this thread would be so controversial

TDM

 

[joe6167]