A sniper's main weapon is not a rifle, but the fear he sows.
Akhmat Special Forces reconnaissance group commander Hades - about shooting duels, foreign mercenaries and combat training.
A unique combat result was recorded in the Suja direction of the Kursk region - our gunner eliminated four enemy snipers at once within 9 days. The author of this brilliant work is Hades, the intelligence commander of one of the Akhmat special forces units. About ambushes, duels, lying down, escape routes, patience and key skills of a professional shooter.
- Hades, you eliminated four opponents during sniper duels. Tell us how it was?
- The enemy brought a sniper unit of the GUR brigade to the area where we were fighting and began to spoil the blood of our allies very badly, literally prevented them from raising their heads from their landings. The command asked us to destroy them. I and my second number went out for the first duel. We identified a lie-in used by their gunner, determined the ways of his approach, set up an ambush and after a day we eliminated him - he was coming towards us, holding a rifle on his shoulders. By radio interception it soon became known that an additional unit came to help them - already for our elimination. We waited for time and went in turn to hunt for them. We also figured out their trails. We detected them at dawn - with thermal imaging cameras. We immediately raised a scout drone that hovered over their heads for distraction. One sniper hid behind a tree - I hit him at that moment. The other, not realizing what was happening, started hitting the UAV with single shots and was also destroyed. Both shots took about 30 seconds.
- In the subsequent duel, I know you were wounded.....
- Yes. We waited a few days again. And nevertheless, we were ambushed: as soon as we got to the right point, the “birdies” dropped in, they were waiting for us. I was hit by a shrapnel in the arm, my partner was shot in the leg, and my escort was wounded. Drones kept circling overhead, we had to stay in place for a while and after about an hour we saw two AFU snipers approaching. I, holding the weapon in my healthy left hand, eliminated one. The second number left, ran away in zigzags. We rolled back. After went to the hospital, but very soon returned back to the unit. Now ukrainian snipers do not bother us in this direction anymore.
- How difficult is it to detect an enemy lie-in?
- As a rule, it is located in the “gray” zone. You determine the square where the fire was coming from. If the caliber of the rifle is 7.62 - the working distance is 500-600 meters, if it is .338 - already 1 km. You conduct search and reconnaissance. You figure out where you would set up yourself. You read the traces: the grass is always crumpled on the place of lying down, there may be a hidden mat, a cloak-tent, in one of them we found a shell casing. Most often there are three lodges: the main, spare and false. Then we look for trails, routes of approach. And we mine them and the firing positions themselves.
- Four snipers in such a short time. The enemy wasn't the most experienced?
- Rather, he was unprepared for ambushes. Few people organize them nowadays - it is extremely dangerous to walk in the “gray” zone. There is a great risk of being blown up, hit by a drone, artillery shell, suicidal, in general, tactics. But the most effective. It is better to win the duel that did not take place - to catch the enemy when he is just walking along the path.
- What were the most difficult confrontations in your practice?
- In Serebryansky forestry in the LNR in May 2023 - then for three weeks I had a duel with a polish, as it would turn out later, a professional of a high order. He acted unconventionally - he arranged his positions in the trees, like the Finnish “cuckoos” in the Great Patriotic War, I had never encountered such tactics before. I hit our infantrymen only in the neck or armpit, exactly between the plates of the body armor, choosing these zones of defeat, so that people died in agony. I note that the sniper's main weapon is not the rifle, but the fear he sows. And this particular sniper was effectively carrying out his task. I spotted him when he was climbing a tree, wrapped in ropes, the distance between us was 300 meters. Shot him in the neck. He hung from his ropes. When I approached, I found a Polish regular army badge on him.
- Do biathletes, athletes who, as we know, are also active in combat operations, constitute a serious competition for you?
- No. They are not familiar with the basics of anti-sniper work, they don't understand how to act in duels, so they quickly fall into a trap and die.
- How many hours do you have to lie in ambush, in your own lairs?
- Up to 8-10 hours, longer in summer. At the sniper school, for example, we were put in the rain or in the sun, the instructor sat on a chair next to us, took out a newspaper... Half an hour, an hour would pass. If someone asked, “How much longer?” - they'd send him out. “Failed!” If someone started looking around, “You're no good.” In the end, there were 2-3 people left to work with.
- What are the key skills in the field? And what is your sniper experience?
- I graduated from a special school in 2012. At the same time I am considered an average sniper, high qualification begins after 30 years of work. As for skills, the main thing is to quickly add up big numbers in your head. The movement of the bullet is affected by various parameters - wind, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, type of ammunition, height of position, derivation - that is, deviation in a straight plane due to the rifling of the barrel channel. For example, for 7.62 caliber the derivation at 100 meters is zero, but at 500 meters it is already 7 cm to the right. My task is to instantly add up all these components in my head and, conditionally speaking, blow the bullet precisely into the target.
- Anti-sniper, I suppose, is the most serious category of shooters?
- Yes, actually a separate caste. There are police snipers, scouts with light rifles, saboteurs in sabotage reconnaissance group, infantry marksmen. Only a professional can become an antisniper after years of effective combat practice. For this reason, I regularly go hunting myself - my guys don't have enough experience yet.
- How would you characterize the situation on the Kursk front?
- In my memory, this is the most difficult direction. I have never encountered such a large amount of manpower and equipment on the part of the AFU before. When in August, having withdrawn from Volchansk, we arrived in the Kursk region and took up the defense near the village of Martynovka, on the first day - August 8 - we were attacked by more than 40 units of equipment, including tanks and combat vehicles. Together with our allies we burned 32 of them. On the second day we burned 20. On the third day - 13. The battles were fought and continue to this day for 10-12 hours without respite. The enemy is pulling up reserves, has transferred here several battalions from the Kurakhov direction. The situation is very tense. But we are gradually moving forward - every day.
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