(Dan Tri) – In a war built on artillery, tanks, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and cruise missiles, the necessary and important role of snipers is often overlooked.
A Ukrainian sniper nicknamed Bart at a location considered a hideout in an abandoned building in southern Ukraine (Photo: NYTimes).
Russia’s position is marked by the green flag of Moscow’s elite air force units, but that fabric appears almost transparent through the scopes of Ukrainian snipers.
The flag, atop a building that Russia controls in southern Ukraine, is just over a mile away.
`They move around in the morning and evening. They arrive after dark after crossing pitch-black roads, packed into a pickup truck with its lights off. With hasty steps against the windows
At night, a group of soldiers dressed in camouflage prepared to carry out their mission.
If Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine is defined as a fierce artillery war with tanks, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and cruise missiles in support, then the necessary and important role of artillery
Overshadowed by high-tech military weapons and the power of artillery and mortars, Ukraine’s snipers are part of a more primitive force: the infantry.
But modern technology, especially the development of small UAVs that serve as lethal tools above the front lines, has made sniping from hidden positions much more difficult.
A mannequin full of bullet holes is used as one of the sniper training targets (Photo: NYT).
About 650km from where Bart’s team stood waiting, Mr. Volodymyr, 54, an infantryman with the 19th Separate Rifle Battalion, was preparing for his first day of sniper training at the rifle range.
In front of him were stele stickers filled with bull’s-eye images.
Some snipers complain that the focus on trench assaults, a necessary tactic for reclaiming territory, has led to sniper training being ignored.
The number of snipers in the Ukrainian army is not publicly known, but instructors estimate there are several thousand, divided into two main groups.
The first group is called marksmen, capable of shooting people at a distance of about 275m.
One day last September, Volodymyr’s instructor taught him just that: how to pull the trigger.
`The trigger must be pulled straight down into the barrel groove. If it is pulled to the side, it will miss the target, and if pulled down, it will cause a strong recoil, which will also affect the target,` the instructor said.
Priority goals
`At approximately 24:00, our snipers in position No. 2 observed an enemy machine gun nest,` a report stated after a sniper mission that took place near the eastern city of Bakhmut.
A Ukrainian sniper lines up his rifle before heading east this summer (Photo: NYT).
In military circles, snipers are known as `human resources,` meaning they can have a huge impact on the battlefield.
But pulling the trigger like that often comes at a high price, especially in the era of UAVs and thermal sights.
That means not every Russian soldier in sight is a good target for destruction.
`I think we should never underestimate our opponents,` said Marik, a Ukrainian sniper with the Da Vinci Wolves infantry battalion.
A well-trained sniper team will demonstrate its presence on the front lines by harassing and killing targets until they retreat or are discovered, attacked, or destroyed.
Killing others with high-powered rifles and scopes is a calculated experience, unlike the close-up, frenzied carnage of trench warfare.
The bullets, reserved for lethal long-range shooting, and their casings are often assembled by snipers themselves, known as `hand-loading` – to ensure they are perfectly weighted for the mission.
But snipers do more than just shoot people at long range.
Wind of change
Around 2:00 p.m., the wind changed direction.
Other members of the Ukrainian sniper team are testing weapons and ammunition at a shooting range before the next morning’s operation (Photo: NYT).
Around this time, a cheap UAV, loaded with explosives, appeared in the sky and 3 mortar shells were aimed down nearby.
At dusk, when the ground was quieter and the setting sun shone into the windows of the Russian building, the team spotted something in the back of a room in the distance.
There was no clear answer so there was no reason to shoot.
