Laff GM. Yes I'm very afraid of that first Mosin Nagant...
Bruce, there are many images of the Donetsk & Lugansk separatists using the SKS (and Mosins and PTRS-41s & Degtyaryov machine guns) from 2014 until 2022. The regular Russian and Ukrainian forces of course typically use their standard issue AKs (or in the case of Ukraine, whatever flavor of western weapon has been delivered to them) but the DPR & LPR forces had to use whatever they could scrounge up.