A Ukrainian sniper who claims to be personally responsible for the deaths of 113 Russian soldiers over the past nine months has revealed exactly how his squad tracks and kills their targets.
The Ghost of Bakhmut, commander of the elite sniper squad “The Ghosts of Bakhmut”, revealed that his team, consisting of a few dozen highly trained soldiers, had killed 558 Russian soldiers in the same period.
Ghost, his field callsign, also claims to have killed one of the most distant snipers in history, with the team’s last confirmed target being 1.5 miles away, three times the length of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
He and his team said they typically hunt high-value Russian targets at a typical range of about 230 feet and are often thrown into “hot spots” as the vanguard of counter actions. -Ukraine’s offensive, which have intensified in recent months.
“When an offensive or counter-offensive is planned, our task is to go in first and clear the area,” the anonymous commander told Insider.
Ghost (pictured) is the leader of the Ghosts of Bakhmut sniper squad
The commander says the unit has eliminated more than 500 Russian soldiers over the past nine months.
The killings committed by the squad, which bears the name of its leader, are recorded electronically using the sights of their rifles.
The unit’s snipers often have to wait up to 16 hours a day in one place and must be very well camouflaged.
The unit’s primary weapon is the American Barrett M107A1, although members will also use the Barrett MRAD as well as some Ukrainian rifles, including the UAR-10 and Snipex Alligator.
The effective range of the Barrett M107A1, considered the most powerful weapon used by the Ghosts, is 1.14 miles, according to its owner’s manual, while its maximum range is 2.49 miles.
Kills by the squad, which is named after its leader, are recorded electronically using the sights of its rifles, and the unit will then remain in position for three to five hours to ensure its prey has been eliminated.
But he added that the deadly work is exhausting and can tear people apart mentally.
The unit’s snipers often have to wait in one place for up to 16 hours a day and must be very well camouflaged.
Ghost said the unit’s deadly work is exhausting and can tear people apart mentally.
The unit’s main weapon is the American Barrett M107A1.
The unit trained for 10 months before being deployed to Bakhmut
“It has nothing to do with American films that romanticize the work of snipers and present it as very glamorous.”
He said most of the work the unit does is survival based.
“You learn to calculate, you do the calculation. You learn to camouflage yourself, you discover the environment. You can shoot very well, but if you can’t survive, it’s worthless.
“We work 24 hours a day, we don’t differentiate between day and night. There are no weekends.
“You’re totally exhausted, all your juices are squeezed out of you, and when you come back from a mission you’re a complete mess. »
He said when they return from their mission, they try to maintain some degree of normalcy.
Ghost said he tries to call his young daughter as often as he can and writes and sings songs in his free time.
He added that the unit maintains morale with the help of his pet husky Lola, described by Ghost as the unit’s “antidepressant.”
Lola (photo) would be the “antidepressant” of the unit.
The team has not lost a single soldier since arriving in Bakhmut.
The elite team needed 10 months of training before being deployed to Bakhmut.
Meanwhile, Ghost himself, an entrepreneur in another life, says he has worked as a sniper since 2014, enlisting in military service after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. Russia and that he received sniper training from British, American, Canadian and Lithuanian instructors in 2016.
Ghost claims that the team’s training has been put to good use, as no member of his team has died.
He said only he and one other sniper had been injured so far, during a mission in which a mine exploded near him, sending shrapnel into his leg.
This injury left him hospitalized for 12 days.
The unit is known for using the UAR-10, a Ukrainian rifle
The Ghosts of Bakhmut also use the Snipex Alligator on the field
The maximum range of a Barrett M107A1 is 2.49 miles
The unit often uses American-made weapons, including the Barrett MRAD.
He said the key to the unit’s success is that it is a cohesive, self-reliant group that wholeheartedly believes in Ukraine’s cause.
“I have absolute confidence in each of the men who work with me.
“We are absolutely autonomous. Every part of our job is done by our own members: we have our own drivers, we have our own truck repairers, everything we do, we do ourselves.
“We don’t rely on anyone outside of our unit. That’s probably why we’re all still alive and together.
“Bravery is something that can be cultivated. You have to be strong, very resilient, very focused, psychologically very resilient and obviously patriotic.
“This aspect of patriotism is very important because a person must understand why they are doing it.”
