@If there was a great historical example of how effective snipers can be in doing psychological damage to an invading force, it was shown in the movie, Enemy at the Gates.

Did you know one of the most accomplished snipers in the world was a Russian woman born in Ukraine?

Her name was Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko. I wrote about her back in 2012.

She has 309 confirmed kills, mostly Nazis. That’s quite a bit more than Chris Kyle, author of American Sniper.

When a percentage of the now 42 million-ish population take to the streets and countryside with sniper rifles and the foreign snipers are lodged into their sniper hides, it’s a serious problem for Putin’s occupying force.

Recently a Canadian sniper left his family to fight in the war.  You may be wondering why a Canadian would want to get into this fight so badly.  It is not widely known but 200 Canadian advisors in Ukraine had been training Ukrainian snipers going back to 2015 in “Operation Unifier.”  They do other training too like mine clearing and first aid, but Canada produces some pretty good shooters on the long gun.

The 40-year-old—identified only as “Wali” to protect his family’s safety—is one of more than 20,000 foreign-born fighters who answered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call to fight Russia as part of Ukraine’s International Legion of Territorial Defense, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). –Newsweek

“I know, it’s just awful. But me, in my head, when I see the images of destruction in Ukraine, it is my son that I see, in danger and who is suffering,” Wali told the French publication La Presse. “When I see a destroyed building, it is the person who owns it, who sees his pension fund go up in smoke, that I see.”

Personally, when I read about veterans leaving their families for this type of thing, it reminds me of the lead character, Sergeant First Class William James, in the movie, The Hurt Locker, played by Jeremy Renner.

Combat zone addiction.

Putin has a morale problem at home with growing dissatisfaction with the war among the civilian population and especially the mothers of all the conscript soldiers they have been losing.

It’s been widely reported that Russia’s troops are demoralized and don’t like shooting at Ukrainians at all.

Imagine going to war with Mexico. We have a massive Hispanic American population with families in Mexico and the US.

Who wants to shoot at their friends and relatives?

This is why Putin is also bringing in outsiders from Syria and elsewhere who aren’t quite as skittish at pulling the trigger.

Snipers can inflict major damage to Russia’s morale, and clearly, Ukrainian military leaders know this.

Canada hasn’t been alone in training Ukraine’s armed forces, NATO, and likely the US (quietly) have been training Ukraine’s snipers for over a decade as well

The western combat-addicted snipers are joining the fight.

We are already seeing some of the top military commanders on the Russian side get taken out surgically.

I don’t see Putin holding Ukraine for too long, if at all, and snipers will for sure play a major role in this war being fought in the media and the streets and villages of a free Ukraine.  Don’t be too surprised if another sniper of the caliber of Lyudmila Pavlichenko appears again on Ukraine’s side this time.

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*Editor corrected “the most” to “Did you know one of the most accomplished snipers”