- Ukrainian snipers recently spoke with Military Times about their evolving role in the Ukraine war.
- One instructor said in an interview that duels are not happening the way they're shown in movies.
For some Ukrainian snipers engaged in operations around the war-torn city of Bakhmut, their long-range and expensive rifles are not their first choice for battling back the Russians.
One sniper instructor in the Ukrainian military, who simply goes by Artyom, told Military Times in a recent interview that he prefers a Kalashnikov automatic rifle — also known as an AK — with a thermal scope to fight off Russian troops at close range in eastern Ukraine.
"Believe it or not, this, with the proper optics is the most effective weapon I've used in this war," Artyom told the defense media outlet, referring to his automatic weapon and not his top-of-the-line sniper rifle. "A sniper rifle costs $20,000 or $30,000 dollars and can kill only one Russian quickly. An AK can defend against an entire assault."
Artyom said that in recent months, the need for snipers has dropped because the front line has changed. To adapt, he and other snipers have been working as "saboteurs," carrying out activities like planting mines, destroying train tracks, and collecting intelligence for raids.
He said there are not any duels like the ones depicted in films like Enemy at the Gates about the World War II Battle of Stalingrad, to which the fight in Bakhmut has at times been compared.
"Sniper duels are just a silly thing from the movies," Artyom told Military Times, adding that when Russian troops "really want to get us, they use mortars — or if we're really unlucky, white phosphorus." The latter is able to set the battlefield ablaze.
One of Artyom's students, who goes by Yevhen, said in an interview with Military Times that there is "not much need for snipers" around Bakhmut. He added that "it's the kind of battle that is decided by artillery and regular infantry. There's no sense to risk highly specialized troops when shelling will kill you just as easily."
Bakhmut has been completely destroyed after months of intense and bloody fighting between Russia and Ukraine. The grinding battle around the city has been characterized by brutal trench warfare, where soldiers endure the constant threat of artillery and gunfire and also harsh living conditions.
In a situation reminiscent of World War I, elaborate networks of trenches — used by both sides — shield troops along the front lines, and have even been used as battlegrounds for close combat. Ukraine has also appeared to use a World War I-style decoy method in its trenches by using dummies to try and trick enemy snipers and dragged out machine guns from the First World War to repel Russian assaults.
Ukraine's military said on Monday that Bakhmut — along with Avdiivka and Marinka — remains at the "epicenter of the fighting" and that Kyiv's forces constantly push back Russian attacks in the area. "The enemy attempts to take full control of the city of Bakhmut, continuing the assault," it said in a Facebook update.
Russian forces claimed to have seized control of the city center, but the city still remains disputed as Ukraine continues its defense in the face of non-stop Russian attacks.