A feared Ukrainian female sniper the Russians call ‘Punisher’ says women can be especially deadly on the battlefield because a male soldier might hesitate to take a shot, but a woman ‘never’ does

• A Ukrainian female sniper says a man might hesitate to shoot the enemy, but she would never.

• That might be part of why female snipers have been well-regarded in history, she told the BBC.

• Evgeniya Emerald served on the frontlines, earning the label “Punisher” from Russian media.

A female Ukrainian sniper says women sharpshooters have an edge in combat because their male counterparts might hesitate to shoot the enemy, whereas she would have no such qualms.

“If a man hesitates whether to make a shot or not, a woman will never,” Evgeniya Emerald told the BBC’s Olga Malchevska.

She was speaking about how some female snipers have been remembered in history as deadly operators since World War II, as part of a wide-ranging piece on the experiences of women on Ukraine’s frontlines.

Evgeniya, 31, joined the Ukrainian army in 2022 and served on the frontlines, the BBC reported. She’s been called a “Punisher” and “Nazi” in reports by Russian media.

“I came to my commander and I asked him: ‘What can I do best?'” Evgeniya told the BBC. “He said: ‘You will be a sniper.'”

The sniper owned a jewelry business before Russia’s invasion, and recently married a fellow Ukrainian soldier on the frontlines. On Instagram, she has 71,000 followers and says her callsign is Joan of Arc.

Speaking to the BBC, Evgeniya described the life of a sniper as a “personal hell,” because she must view the horrors of war more closely through her scope.

Evgeniya has at least two children — a daughter, 10, from a previous relationship and another three-month-old daughter with her current husband. She left active service in September due to her pregnancy, per the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.

The sniper told the outlet that she was nine when she fired her first gun, and hit five targets with five rounds.

“Dad wanted a boy very much, and a girl was born. As he later said, I was like three boys altogether to him,” she said.

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Evgeniya did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.

Approximately 60,000 women serve in Ukraine’s armed forces, taking positions ranging from mortar commanders to the country’s deputy defense minister.

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