Ukraine's troops receive Ukrainian-made sniper rifles

Ukrainian Army has for the second consecutive year been receiving modern Z-10 and Z-008 sniper rifles, which by an order of magnitude are superior to the Soviet-era Dragunov models, the "SVD" -- the ones initially used by Ukrainian troops facing a better -equipped enemy in Donbas.

"Reliable, easy-to-use, and convenient," sniper Valeriy Chebineyev, Hero of Ukraine, said with regard to the Z-10 rifle, as reported by the Novoye Vremya weekly on November 29.

The Z-10 and Z-008 rifles are not just weapons. They reflect the essence of today's Ukrainian army, where volunteers and civil activists are of great importance.

Previously, a company producing the rifles was engaged in production of sports weapons, moving to the manufacture of combat rifles to help the Ukrainian army once Russian aggression started.

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Over the past few years, $4 million in private funds have been invested in the project.

At first, volunteers were purchasing rifles for the army. However, in 2016, the company received the state order after successfully passing the Defense Ministry tests.

Since then, rifles have been supplied to Ukrainian troops. Meanwhile, manufacturers have managed to modernize them, making the sniper rifles lighter and replacing their chrome-plated barrels with those made of stainless steel, thus allowing the weapons to be more accurate, as well as easy-to-use.

In addition, the company launched the production of NATO-standard cartridges.