{"id":72641,"date":"2023-04-03T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/04\/03\/elite-ukrainian-snipers-describe-their-war-from-the-shadows\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:13:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:13:32","slug":"elite-ukrainian-snipers-describe-their-war-from-the-shadows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2023\/04\/03\/elite-ukrainian-snipers-describe-their-war-from-the-shadows\/","title":{"rendered":"Elite Ukrainian snipers describe their war from the shadows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DONBAS, UKRAINE \u2014 \u201cSector clear,\u201d calls out the instructor, Artyom, to his student Yevhen. The latter man shifts his rifle slightly, its long British-made barrel resting just above the ground as Yevhen lays prone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTarget in sights,\u201d he says in Ukrainian as he rests his crosshairs on a man-shaped metal panel in the quarry below a half-kilometer away. He pulls the trigger: a sharp crack, and the smell of gunpowder in the air. Artyom continues to peer through his binoculars into the quarry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTarget hit,\u201d he says, with a note of approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Artyom and Yevhen are training here at a makeshift firing range in eastern Ukraine, just a few dozen miles from the fierce battle for the city of Bakhmut, keeping sharp for when their deadly skills will be called on again. It\u2019s early March, and around Bakhmut, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/global\/europe\/2023\/02\/13\/when-will-the-war-in-ukraine-end-experts-offer-their-predictions\/\" target=\"_blank\">both sides are dug in<\/a> behind armor or mud, sheltering from 24\/7 artillery fire, and occasionally darting from cover to open fire on an enemy trench position. The two snipers\u2019 go-to guns in that type of fight are Kalashnikovs \u2014 a weapon well-suited to unleashing a wall of ammunition at close range.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/ukraine\/2023\/03\/19\/ukrainian-forces-running-out-of-shells-equipment-in-fight-for-bakhmut\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Caleb_Ukraine4.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Ukrainian forces running out of shells, equipment in fight for Bakhmut<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">To keep holding Bakhmut, Ukrainian troops need to be resupplied, fast.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOver the last six months, there hasn\u2019t been much use for snipers \u2014 the frontline has been changing quite a bit,\u201d Artyom says. \u201cInstead, we have largely been working as saboteurs: planting mines, destroying train tracks\u201d before the enemy can capture and use them, and carrying out reconnaissance for raids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But when the Russians have spent their energy on the latest offensive, make camp and take a knee before the next one, the snipers will take to the shadows again, to take them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The men have repurposed a deserted stone quarry for their target practice \u2014 a wide, rock-strewn depression gouged out of miles of farmer\u2019s fields clogged with mud from the springtime thaw. Yevhen is younger, having joined Ukraine\u2019s armed forces as Russia invaded last year; he is now honing his skills in long-range firearms. Artyom is a professional sniper, having worked in this role since he joined Ukraine\u2019s army in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Top-of-the-line rifles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For today\u2019s session, each man has a personalized, top-of-the-line sniper rifle to work with. Yevhen to a <a href=\"https:\/\/accuracyinternational.com\/at308.html\">.308 calibre Accuracy International model<\/a>; Artyom prefers his Italian-made <a href=\"https:\/\/www.victrixarmaments.com\/en\/professional\/scorpio\/scorpio-v\/\">.338 Victrix Scorpio V<\/a>. The Western, NATO-style loadout of each marksman is an evolutionary shift from the Soviet approach that characterized Ukraine\u2019s armed forces in years past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe U.S., UK, Canada \u2014 these countries are the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/home\/2023\/02\/24\/tears-defiance-and-new-tanks-in-ukraine-for-war-anniversary\/\" target=\"_blank\">pinnacle of modern equipment<\/a>,\u201d Artyom says, his outfit bristling with optics and auxiliary gear. \u201cWhat they use, we try to emulate.\u201d The two men spoke anonymously because they were talking without Ukrainian army permission, in order to speak freely about the course of the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While most of their countrymen are fighting in large, coordinated maneuver formations of tanks, artillery and infantry, the two snipers are part of the elite light-infantry force striking from the shadows, using some of the most advanced equipment in Ukraine\u2019s arsenal. Their operations helped <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/ukraine\/2022\/09\/11\/russian-forces-retreat-amid-ukrainian-counteroffensive\/\" target=\"_blank\">drive Russian forces out<\/a> of western Ukraine in the opening weeks of the 2021 invasion, picking off senior enemy officers at long range, inspiring fear, and confusion among the ill-prepared and disorganized Russian ranks. It\u2019s their tactics that NATO chiefs are studying, as a playbook to what U.S. and other troops might face, should Moscow attack NATO territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1198\" height=\"629\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3.15.23_PhotogThomasMutch_pronesniper.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-106263\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3.15.23_PhotogThomasMutch_pronesniper.jpg.jpg 1198w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3.15.23_PhotogThomasMutch_pronesniper.jpg.jpg?resize=300,158 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3.15.23_PhotogThomasMutch_pronesniper.jpg.jpg?resize=768,403 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3.15.23_PhotogThomasMutch_pronesniper.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,538 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1198px) 100vw, 1198px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Yevhen fires his rifle, a .308 Accuracy International, at a training range in eastern Ukraine. The Western, NATO-style loadout of each marksman is an evolutionary shift from the Soviet approach that characterized Ukraine\u2019s armed forces in years past. (Thomas Mutch\/Special to Military Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That kind of warfare was particularly vital in the first six weeks of the Russian invasion as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Russian armored units lumbered through the Ukrainian countryside in late February and early March 2022, the conditions for the sniper warfare that had dominated the not-so-frozen conflict along the frontlines in Donbas since 2015 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2022\/03\/05\/ukraine-russia-war-putin\/\">evaporated<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/ukraines-troops-fight-war-of-ambush-and-skirmish-against-russian-invaders-11647951516\">mobile strike teams<\/a> capable of taking on isolated Russian columns, often operating without the requisite infantry cover, became the priority. Composed of both veteran and irregular partisan fighters, small teams of Ukrainian infantry inflicted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lbc.co.uk\/news\/russian-convoy-blitzed-by-ukrainian-troops-armed-with-brit-anti-tank-weapons\/\">outsized losses<\/a> on Russian units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While neither Yevhen nor Artyom ever worked behind Russian lines, they admit that there was \u201chardly such a thing\u201d as proper frontlines in those hectic first weeks, before Moscow abandoned the fight for northern Ukraine to focus on Donbas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the months that followed, Arytom redeployed to Donbas as well. He describes several close brushes with death since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSniper duels are just a silly thing from the movies,\u201d Artyom says. \u201cWhen [the Russians] really want to get us, they use mortars \u2014 or if we\u2019re really unlucky, white phosphorus.\u201d The latter substance \u2013 an incendiary agent whose use as a weapon is banned in most cases by international law \u2013 was deployed against Artyom and his comrades in the village of Bilohorivka just last month. \u201cEverything was on fire. We were lucky to escape that time,\u201d Artyom says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Artyom, the war didn\u2019t start with Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion last February. A native of Kramatorsk, he was living in that city when Russian-backed separatists occupied it for several months in 2014 \u2014 an experience he credits for his desire to join the armed forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBack in 2014, I was a normal guy, just working in a heavy machinery factory,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat happened was almost surreal. I couldn\u2019t believe that just 20 guys can capture a whole city \u2013 that 500 policemen can just defect or flee,\u201d Artyom says of the Russian separatists\u2019 brief capture of Kramatorsk during Russia\u2019s seizure of Crimea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He aided Ukraine\u2019s armed forces during the 2014 occupation, providing them with coordinates of separatist troops and bases. \u201cIt was pure chaos in those days \u2013 gangs looting stores, kidnapping people. I couldn\u2019t imagine that happening to the rest [of Ukraine]. Those days affected me a lot,\u201d Artyom says. He joined the army two years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1143\" height=\"630\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3.15.23_PhotogThomasMutch_Sniper-Side-On.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-106260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3.15.23_PhotogThomasMutch_Sniper-Side-On.jpg.jpg 1143w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3.15.23_PhotogThomasMutch_Sniper-Side-On.jpg.jpg?resize=300,165 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3.15.23_PhotogThomasMutch_Sniper-Side-On.jpg.jpg?resize=768,423 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3.15.23_PhotogThomasMutch_Sniper-Side-On.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,564 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1143px) 100vw, 1143px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Artyom has served in Ukraine&#8217;s armed forces since 2016, fighting in battlefields across the country in the past year. Photo by Thomas Mutch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Battle for Bakhmut<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite his specialized equipment, the expert sniper says his weapon of choice these days in the fighting around Bakhmut is not his cutting-edge Western rifle, but rather, a simple Kalashnikov automatic, equipped with a thermal scope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBelieve it or not, this, with the proper optics is the most effective weapon I\u2019ve used in this war,\u201d Artyom says, holding up his go-to machine gun. \u201cA sniper rifle costs $20,000 or $30,000 dollars and can kill only one Russian quickly. An AK can defend against an entire assault.\u201d His record in a single engagement? 15 enemies eliminated in about three hours. \u201cWe didn\u2019t expect them to react so calmly once we started shooting, but they just kept milling around in the same area,\u201d Artyom says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Neither Artyom nor Yevhen knows where their next deployment will be. All they are certain is that it won\u2019t be in Bakhmut, the city where six months of brutal fighting has brought Russian troops to within a few kilometers of encircling the Ukrainian defenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s not much need for snipers in Bakhmut,\u201d Yevhen says. \u201cIt\u2019s the kind of battle that is decided by artillery and regular infantry. There\u2019s no sense to risk highly specialized troops when shelling will kill you just as easily,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Artyom has a few interesting ideas for assignments further down the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSince we\u2019re specialists, we get to choose a lot of our own missions,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d like to go next to either the forests of Belarus or the mountains of the North Caucasus. Ukraine isn\u2019t the only country that needs to be liberated from the Russians.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ukrainian snipers Artyom and Yevhen are training at a quarry-turned-makeshift-firing range in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":106260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":62,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,7,23,89,12,26,62,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3321],"class_list":["post-72641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-education-transition","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"XPAOME347ZF2BPAJZ7DTDVHBFU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2023\/04\/03\/elite-ukrainian-snipers-describe-their-war-from-the-shadows\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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