Ukraine captures female sniper who killed 40 in Russian invasion

A female Russian sniper allegedly responsible for killing 40 Ukrainian people has been captured after she was left to die by her fellow fighters.

A female Russian sniper with 40 kills to her name was captured after being abandoned on the battlefield, it was reported.

Irina Starikova – whose call sign is Bagira – is said to have told her captors she was left to die after being wounded in a battle with Ukrainian troops, The Sunreports.

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It has been reported that Irina Starikova has been captured by Ukrainian forces. Picture: Twitter/@armedforcesukr via The Sun

According to the Peacemaker centre, which researches crimes committed by Russian separatists in the Ukraine war, she is 41 years old.

She also has two daughters, aged 11 and 9, and is divorced from their father Alexander Fedotov.

Starikova served with the forces of the Russian separatist Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, which has been fighting the government in Kyiv since 2014.

Her capture was announced by the Ukrainian armed forces, who said she “shot our prisoners in 2014”, alongside pictures of her.

Ms Starikova’s capture was announced by the Ukrainian armed forces. Picture: VK via The Sun

Starikova’s capture was also confirmed by Giorgi Revishvili, a researcher at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London.

He tweeted that “Ukrainian forces captured infamous sniper fighting on the side of ORDLO, call sign Bagira” referring to the name Kyiv gives to the breakaway Russian-speaking regions.

Revishvili added reportedly she is responsible for “killing 40 Ukrainians including civilians”.

According to reports, Starikova is originally from Serbia and has been hunted by the Ukrainians since 2014.

Ukraine’s Obozrevatel news website quotes a soldier named Vlad Ivanov who said that Starikova was provided with medical treatment when captured.

She is quoted as saying that “they left, knowing that I was injured and had the opportunity to pick me up … hoping that I would die”.

Starikova was a sniper of 11th Specialised Special Operations Division, it was claimed.

According to the Peacemaker centre, she has been awarded the George Cross medal for her work.

Starikova is allegedly responsible for killing 40 Ukrainians including civilians. Picture: VK via The Sun

The researchers also say she is married to a soldier from Belarus called Aleksandr Ogrenich.

According to a 2017 report from the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, he goes by the call sign Gorynych and also fights for the Russian separatists armed forces.

Russia supported the separatist insurgents in eastern Ukraine during a conflict which killed more than 14,000 people in seven years.

The open conflict was triggered by the Ukrainian Revolution in 2014 – when an uprising overthrew the pro-Russian government of Viktor Yanukovych.

The deadly killer is a mum-of-two. Picture: Twitter/@armedforcesukr via The Sun

Vladimir Putin’s forces reacted by annexing the region of Crimea from Ukraine – a move which was widely condemned by the West.

Reportedly fighting on the Ukrainian side is a Canadian soldier described as one of the world’s deadliest snipers.

The trained killer, nicknamed Wali answered President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for foreign volunteers.

The 40-year-old was previously deployed twice to Afghanistan as a sniper with the Canadian Armed Forces between 2009 and 2011.

Wali had previously travelled to Iraq on his own to fight against Islamic State in 2015. Equipped with a £5,000 ($A8730) military-grade .338 sniper rifle, the feared marksman claims he can kill at a range of 1400 metres.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission