“I came to my commander.
And I asked him.
‘What can I do the best?’
He said: ‘You will be a sniper.’”
She carried out the role.
On the front line until recently.
She ran a jewellery business.
Before the war.
She says female snipers.
Have been romanticized since World War Two.
Adding there is a very practical reason.
For this reputation.
“If a man hesitates whether.
To make a shot or not.
A woman will never.”
Cradling her three-month old daughter.
She adds, “Maybe.
That’s why women are.
The ones giving birth.
Not men.”
“I came to my commander.
And I asked him.
‘What can I do the best?’
He said: ‘You will be a sniper.’”
The 31 year old.
Had military training.
After ‘Mordor’ invaded Crimea.
But only joined the army in 2022.
She has used her entrepreneurial experience.
To build a strong social media following.
To help raise the profile.
Of ‘elves’ female soldiers.
“I came to my commander.
And I asked him.
‘What can I do the best?’
He said: ‘You will be a sniper.’”
Working as a sniper.
Is particularly brutal.
Both physically.
And mentally.
“Because you can see.
What is going on.
You can see.
Hitting a target.”
“This is a personal hell.
For everyone.
Who sees that.
In a sniper’s scope.”
“I came to my commander.
And I asked him.
‘What can I do the best?’
He said: ‘You will be a sniper.’”
She remembers.
The heightened emotion she felt.
When she realised she was probably.
Going to have to kill someone.
“For 30 seconds.
I was shaking –
My whole body –
And I couldn’t stop it.”
“That realisation that.
Now you’ll do something.
That will be a point.
Of no return.”
“But we didn’t.
Come to them.
With a war.
They came to us.”
“I came to my commander.
And I asked him.
‘What can I do the best?’
He said: ‘You will be a sniper.’”
She faced another battle.
Before she established.
Her authority and confidence.
As a front-line sniper.
“When I had just joined.
The special forces.
One of the fighters.
Came to me and said:”
“‘Girl, what are you doing here?
Go and cook borshch.’
I felt so offended.
At that moment I thought.”
“‘Are you kidding me?
I can be in the kitchen.
But I can also.
Knock you out’!”
“I came to my commander.
And I asked him.
‘What can I do the best?’
He said: ‘You will be a sniper.’”
“A war doesn’t care.
Whether you are.
A man or.
A woman.”
“When a missile hits a house.
It doesn’t care if there are.
Women, men, children.
Everyone dies.”
“And it’s the same.
On the front line.
If you can be effective.
And you’re a woman.”
“Why wouldn’t you.
Defend your country?
Your people?”
“War doesn’t have a gender.”
“I came to my commander.
And I asked him.
‘What can I do the best?’
He said: ‘You will be a sniper.’”
*Because I read “’It’s like playing with death’ – Ukraine’s female front line soldiers” by Olga Malchevska on 2 Aug 2023, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem as a story of Evgeniya.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
‘It’s like playing with death’ – Ukraine’s female front line soldiers – BBC News
**My friend shows you this poem with two others on the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them!
