Elena is called “the deadliest female sniper in Ukraine” in foreign media. And she serves in the Armed Forces of Ukraine together with her husband.
Elena Belozerskaya, a former journalist and now a sniper in the Ukrainian special unit “Artan” of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, gave a frank interview to The Sun, talking about her work. Elena, who has at least 10 confirmed kills of enemy soldiers, noted that she herself would like to kill Putin, but, most likely, “his own henchmen” will do it.
44-year-old Elena Belozerskaya said that Putin “will not live to see the international tribunal where he will be tried.” In her opinion, the Russian president will be killed by his own henchmen as soon as “the Russian elite understands that Putin’s rule is becoming unprofitable for them.”
“Of course, I would kill him if I could, but getting such a chance is unrealistic for me,” said Elena, who has at least 10 confirmed eliminations.
She also called Putin an “inadequate person” and warned that if he manages to take over Ukraine, other neighboring countries such as Moldova, Poland, the Baltic states or Finland could be taken over next.
The female sniper added that Russia can only be defeated on the battlefield, because “Russian politicians never keep their promises” and violate any treaties.
Elena joined the Ukrainian army as a volunteer sniper back in 2014, in Dnepr, while working as a journalist in Kyiv, and in 2018 became a full-time soldier in the Ukrainian Marine Corps.
She was demobilized in 2020, but returned to fight for her country after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and still serves in the Ukrainian special forces Artan.
The special unit “ARTAN” is a special purpose unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The special unit was formed by officers of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the MOU and volunteers in 2022 in Kyiv.
Belozerskaya was discharged from the Marine Corps in 2020, but she and her husband Valery Voronov were still members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Services.
She previously wrote a book, Diary of an Illegal Soldier, which states that during the first few years of her service, volunteers like her were technically not allowed to fight on the front lines, but the law was changed in 2016.
She was well known even before the war, as her opposition journalism put her at risk of imprisonment during the Yanukovych era.
Just weeks before the 2022 invasion, she said she did not believe Putin would order an invasion and that his troop build-up was simply “pressure and intimidation.”
But when her assessment turned out to be false, she and her husband enlisted in the army. She says that February 24, 2022 was the hardest day of the war, when the Russian Armed Forces tried to storm Kyiv.
“It was scary – if the invaders had captured Kyiv, they would have killed my parents. When we drove the enemies away from the capital, it became morally easier,” she said.
Elena said the nature of the war has changed and become more complex compared to the fighting in 2014 and 2017 due to Russia's use of drones, allowing the enemy to “watch you constantly.”
Elena is confident that Ukraine must continue to fight Russia to regain control of its borders, as they were defined in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“After this, Ukraine must isolate itself from Russia with the help of a reliable and very well fortified border, strengthen its army and, finally, join NATO,” Elena said.
“Russia is fighting against us not because it does not like the current Ukrainian government or the Ukrainian political course, but because it is not satisfied with the very existence of Ukraine. If Russia is not defeated on the battlefield, it will not stop trying to conquer Ukraine. As history shows and practice, Russian politicians never keep their promises. Any peace treaty they sign, they will violate. There is nothing to discuss or agree with them,” the sniper noted.
She admitted that she doesn't feel any emotion when she eliminates her targets.
“When the enemy approaches our position to kill me, does he think whether I have a husband, parents or children? Moral anguish about “killing a person” was invented by people far from war. An armed enemy is not a person, but a target. If you take up arms against my country, that's it, you're a target. If I don't eliminate him in time, he could kill me or one of my brothers-in-arms,” she said.
Elena noted that on the battlefield she “doesn’t bother with nonsense.”
“This is material for books and films. In real life, anyone who thinks like this in battle is already almost dead,” the sniper concluded.
Elena was wounded in the battle – her right cheek was paralyzed after a bullet grazed it. And at the end of the interview, she criticized Hollywood's portrayal of the sniper role.
“In the movies they show that a sniper sees the eyes of a living person. But you can't see the eyes. You just see the silhouette of an armed man and shoot at him. That's all… if you miss, you feel like you've lost,” Belozerskaya said.
Let us remind you that earlier Focus wrote about the Ukrainian sniper Vyacheslav Kovalsky, who set a world record by eliminating an officer of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation at a distance of 3,800 meters. Kovalsky shot and killed a Russian officer at a distance of 3,800 meters with a 12.7×114 mm HL Volodar Obriyu rifle, which was developed by the Ukrainian company of the same name.