The Story of a Ukrainian Sniper

Evgeniya Emerald says that she has defied gender stereotypes since childhood.

While other girls played with dollhouses and Barbies, she preferred toy guns and machines. Aged nine, Evgeniya's father took her with him on a hunt.

“My father gave me a gun for the first time,” the 32-year-old said, recalling that she hit five targets with five rounds.

Two decades late, she found herself on the frontlines of the war, serving as a sniper with the Ukrainian army.

Emerald has become an iconic figure in Ukraine, a symbol of how women are part of the military efforts to combat the Russian invasion of their country.

Nearly 60,000 women currently serve in the army, Ukraine's defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said during the Ukrainian Women's Congress last November, of whom 5,000 are directly involved in hostilities.

Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, noted that women made up more than a fifth of the entire personnel of the armed forces of Ukraine.

"I felt the war was coming; I did not hesitate for a second."

Recalling her upbringing, Emerald said that her father Oleksandr “raised me harshly. Back then I was offended, but now I am truly grateful because I understand that he brought up this character and this fighter in me”.

She continued, “Dad wanted a boy very much, and a girl was born. As he later said, I was like three boys altogether to him, He was an entrepreneur, loved fishing, and hunting, was very handy, for example, he built a house himself.”

He always instilled the value of self-sufficiency in her, Emerald continued.

“He told me, ‘You have to be responsible for your life and not rely on anyone: neither on your husband nor on your parents nor on fate. You have to earn your living. The sooner, the better.’”

Emerald first focused on a civilian career, graduating in law, psychology and public policy from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv – although aged 20, she joined the military reserve force there as an officer.

The following year, she gave birth to a daughter, Jacqueline, and established her own jewellery making business. Two years later, Emerald broke up with the child's father. “But we have a very good relationship, always in touch because we have a child.”

When Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, Emerald volunteered to serve with the army but was turned down because her daughter was under three years old.

But after the full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022, she was accepted into a specialised unit.

“On 23 February 2022, I closed my company and told my colleagues, ‘Friends, we are finishing the job.’ Because I felt the war [was coming,” she said. “I did not hesitate for a second [to enlist].”

Emerald went on to serve in Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, while her daughter, now ten, is looked after by her grandmothers. A sniper with the call sign Jeanne d'Arc, she spent six months in the Safari regiment of the National Police of Ukraine.

The worst thing about fighting on the frontline, Emerald said, was the uncertainty of survival. And losing friends had been tough, particularly her mentor, a sniper called Victor who was killed in Zaporizhzhia oblast when four missiles hit their base. Emerald said that his death was like losing her own father, six years ago.

“That pain again,” she continued. “Unfortunately, it happened again. And I have many friends who are 300 [wounded in military slang].”

The last thing Emerald expected was to find love during her military service. But when she and another soldier called Eugene began chatting on Instagram, the connection was immediate. Two weeks after meeting for the first time, he proposed. The pair were married on the front line, with the ceremony officiated by an army general. 

Emerald only left active service after she became pregnant last September. She said that discovering she was pregnant had been a mix of “stress, and then happiness”.

“Stress, because I was not far from the hostilities in Zaporizhzhia oblast,” she continued. “And I was shocked, I was not ready for this, I was very worried about the health of the child because in general I was not living in very good conditions. And for the last three months, we had been living in a basement with mould and damp air.”

Despite a difficult pregnancy, she continued to serve on the home front in Kyiv until she was 30 weeks pregnant. Now due to give birth to another daughter very soon, Emerald said that she will use her new-found public profile - often invited to appear on radio and television, she has a huge social media following – to raise awareness of important issues during the ongoing conflict.

She added, “I fight injustice, help people, cover important topics in Ukraine!”