Volunteers Equip Snipers with Crowdfunded ‘Okhtyrka’ Long-Range Rifle for Independence Day

Volunteers from the Vengeance Guard project, Yury Chornomorets and Dmytro Batishchev, who are dedicated to equipping the Ukrainian military, recently handed over a sniper system named after the hero city of Okhtyrka in the Sumy region, bordering Russia, to the National Guard snipers for Independence Day.

According to the volunteers, the RUGER in .338 caliber rifle will be deployed in the Mauser sniper platoon of the 27th Pechersk Brigade of the National Guard, headed by the well-known Ukrainian sniper Serhiy Pozniak.

“There is a lot of symbolism in the fact that a rifle named after the hero city of Okhtyrka will enhance the combat capabilities of this unit. Both the commander and the city share a common trait—indomitability,” Batishchev said.

Okhtyrka long-range rifle/Photo courtesy of Dmytro Batishchev

Pozniak, a National Guard lieutenant, is also a successful financier, investor, head of the Association of Entrepreneurs—ATO (Anti-Terrorist Operation) veterans, and the father of four children. He participated in combat in Donbas from 2014 to 2016. After Russia’s full-scale invasion, Pozniak returned to the front as a sniper, where he lost a leg. Even during his treatment and rehabilitation, he continued to assist Ukrainian veterans in starting their businesses.

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With Russia’s full-scale invasion approaching the 1,000-day mark, 3.7 million people have already been displaced inside Ukraine and around 6.7 million have fled as refugees, according to UN figures.

“Sniper work is one of the key factors of our victory,” Pozniak said as he received the Okhtyrka rifle.

Batishchev highlighted that this is not the first time crowdfunded weapons have been handed over to a prominent sniper.

“The Mykolaiv rifle is now in the hands of world record holder Vyacheslav Kovalsky, who hit an enemy target from an incredible distance of 3,800 meters, also using the Ukrainian Volodar Obriyu [Horizon's Lord] rifle,” Batishchev told Kyiv Post.

So far, 23 cities in Ukraine and one village have joined the Vengeance Guard project, which Chornomorets and Batishchev launched in May 2023.

Batishchev explained the project’s main idea: communities across Ukraine can raise funds for a long-range rifle, the core of a sniper system. At the same time, funds are being collected to equip the rifle with a scope, bipod, silencer, and other necessary accessories.

Chornomorets, a former sniper with the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) now volunteering with the military, has successfully raised funds to provide Ukrainian Defense Forces fighters with 300 sniper systems.

He emphasized the importance of maintaining a constant advantage over Russian troops in the sniper domain. Recently, he handed over several long-range Victrix TRONE rifles, chambered in .375 caliber, to Ukrainian forces.

“This rifle model has a fairly long barrel (96.5 cm) and allows for effective operation at distances of more than 3 kilometers,” Chornomorets said.

“While .375-caliber rifles represent the future, we must continue working diligently on this while also ensuring that snipers are supplied with .338-caliber rifles, which remain the primary choice today,” he added.

The volunteers are now launching another fundraiser as part of the People’s Vengeance Guard, this time for a sniper rifle to be named after the city of Lviv. You can donate to support Ukrainian snipers via PayPal at [email protected].