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A target rich environment...
Teflon served three years in Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry before being released in 2011 for medical reasons. He later worked as a private security contractor in North Africa while honing his side career in mixed martial arts and competing in sniper competitions. As a member of the International Legion, he is said to receive the same salary as other members of the Ukrainian armed forces, around $900 a month, plus combat bonuses.
He considers firing his sniper rifle a job like any other. Teflon refers to days on the frontline as “work” and his goals as “human commitment.” But the 34-year-old – whose unit previously took part in Ukraine’s counter-offensive in the autumn that liberated the Kharkiv region – says he feels sorry for the poorly trained Russian conscripts whose lives he ended one by one.
“The Russians only sent five to seven men at a time, day and night,” he said in an interview in Kyiv. “They are just so badly educated and have no idea about it. They come from about two kilometers away, I watch them go all the way in. They’re getting close to 500 meters, you know, right into the kill zone.
In Bakhmut, Teflon scouts for targets and boils water with a makeshift stove.
Teflon’s photos of Bakhmut show houses whose roofs were damaged by shelling
To illustrate what happened on December 24, Teflon showed The Globe photos taken with his iPhone of how the Russians would remain behind cover of a partially destroyed building before finally having to turn down a narrow alleyway, which was run by The apartment building where the Canadian Army veteran and his sniper rifle were waiting.
Teflon kept pulling his trigger. He says he fired 21 shots that day and missed more frequently at night when it was more difficult to judge distances even with a thermal scope on his Canadian-made Prairie Gun Works LRT-3. “I actually got to a point where I was like, ‘Can you stop? I’m tired of just killing people from this spot.” ”
The number of bodies in the “death zone” on Christmas Eve finally alerted the Russians to the fact that they were in grave danger in that alleyway beneath the block of flats, which meant they would start running as soon as they got in Teflon’s field of vision. The Russians identified which building the sniper had to hide in and directed a tank to shell the apartment building.
Teflon says he ducked for cover during the shelling, then moved to another room and rebuilt his sniper rifle.
“There are a couple of shots I took that day that will stay with me,” he said. One was a Russian in a T-shirt carrying a box of ammunition more than 1,800 yards behind the front line — a distance Teflon said was the longest shot he’s ever made. “He saw no threat, he thought he was safe. But it’s my job to make sure they know nowhere is safe,” Teflon said. “The role of a sniper is to ultimately get inside the enemy’s mind and make them question everything.”
The other was a conscript who Teflon killed on the cold, gray day when temperatures hovered around freezing. After firing, Teflon watched through his scope as the dead man’s comrade desperately tried to revive him with CPR. “I have decided not to fire a second shot. I had them pick up the body and transport it.”
He says he killed three more Russian soldiers on the morning of December 25 before taking a break from a 36-hour shift at the front.
Teflon says his work as a sniper over Christmas was among the bloodiest of his career. Anton Skyba/The Globe and Mail
Teflon describes working as a sniper as “the most inhumane job in the world, but a very important one, and it’s a job, something I think I’m okay with.”
But he admits that he feels sorry for the Russian conscripts who were repeatedly sent to Bakhmut. Unlike the professional soldiers Russia used in the earlier battles of the war, many of those deployed to Bakhmut are conscripts drafted under the partial mobilization order issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin last fall.
“There are claims that all these Russians need to be drugged. There is no possibility. I think it’s just the training. Because they still act like humans. I’ve seen boys cry and I’ve seen boys scream and I’ve seen boys try to pull their friends back when they’re killed. They are human, but they don’t have an ounce of training when it comes to fighting a war.”
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canadatoday.news
A Canadian sniper in Ukraine describes the Russians’ stubborn advance in Bakhmut
Teflon served three years in Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry before being released in 2011 for medical reasons. He later worked as a private security contractor in North Africa while honing his side career in mixed martial arts and competing in sniper competitions. As a member of the International Legion, he is said to receive the same salary as other members of the Ukrainian armed forces, around $900 a month, plus combat bonuses.
He considers firing his sniper rifle a job like any other. Teflon refers to days on the frontline as “work” and his goals as “human commitment.” But the 34-year-old – whose unit previously took part in Ukraine’s counter-offensive in the autumn that liberated the Kharkiv region – says he feels sorry for the poorly trained Russian conscripts whose lives he ended one by one.
“The Russians only sent five to seven men at a time, day and night,” he said in an interview in Kyiv. “They are just so badly educated and have no idea about it. They come from about two kilometers away, I watch them go all the way in. They’re getting close to 500 meters, you know, right into the kill zone.
In Bakhmut, Teflon scouts for targets and boils water with a makeshift stove.
Teflon’s photos of Bakhmut show houses whose roofs were damaged by shelling
To illustrate what happened on December 24, Teflon showed The Globe photos taken with his iPhone of how the Russians would remain behind cover of a partially destroyed building before finally having to turn down a narrow alleyway, which was run by The apartment building where the Canadian Army veteran and his sniper rifle were waiting.
Teflon kept pulling his trigger. He says he fired 21 shots that day and missed more frequently at night when it was more difficult to judge distances even with a thermal scope on his Canadian-made Prairie Gun Works LRT-3. “I actually got to a point where I was like, ‘Can you stop? I’m tired of just killing people from this spot.” ”
The number of bodies in the “death zone” on Christmas Eve finally alerted the Russians to the fact that they were in grave danger in that alleyway beneath the block of flats, which meant they would start running as soon as they got in Teflon’s field of vision. The Russians identified which building the sniper had to hide in and directed a tank to shell the apartment building.
Teflon says he ducked for cover during the shelling, then moved to another room and rebuilt his sniper rifle.
“There are a couple of shots I took that day that will stay with me,” he said. One was a Russian in a T-shirt carrying a box of ammunition more than 1,800 yards behind the front line — a distance Teflon said was the longest shot he’s ever made. “He saw no threat, he thought he was safe. But it’s my job to make sure they know nowhere is safe,” Teflon said. “The role of a sniper is to ultimately get inside the enemy’s mind and make them question everything.”
The other was a conscript who Teflon killed on the cold, gray day when temperatures hovered around freezing. After firing, Teflon watched through his scope as the dead man’s comrade desperately tried to revive him with CPR. “I have decided not to fire a second shot. I had them pick up the body and transport it.”
He says he killed three more Russian soldiers on the morning of December 25 before taking a break from a 36-hour shift at the front.
Teflon says his work as a sniper over Christmas was among the bloodiest of his career. Anton Skyba/The Globe and Mail
Teflon describes working as a sniper as “the most inhumane job in the world, but a very important one, and it’s a job, something I think I’m okay with.”
But he admits that he feels sorry for the Russian conscripts who were repeatedly sent to Bakhmut. Unlike the professional soldiers Russia used in the earlier battles of the war, many of those deployed to Bakhmut are conscripts drafted under the partial mobilization order issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin last fall.
“There are claims that all these Russians need to be drugged. There is no possibility. I think it’s just the training. Because they still act like humans. I’ve seen boys cry and I’ve seen boys scream and I’ve seen boys try to pull their friends back when they’re killed. They are human, but they don’t have an ounce of training when it comes to fighting a war.”
A Canadian sniper in Ukraine describes the Russians' stubborn advance in Bakhmut - Canada Today
Watch: A Canadian veteran working under the callsign Teflon in Ukraine describes the brutal reality of his role as a sniper and the poor tactics used by
canadatoday.news
