It won't show up on a Guinness list, but a Ukrainian sniper is claiming he set a record by killing a Russian soldier more than two miles away. That would surpass the generally accepted mark by more than 850 feet. Vyacheslav Kovalskiy's 12,470-foot shot was captured on video and reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, which reports the footage shows the soldier doubling over and falling. The bullet traveled for 9 seconds before hitting him, the video documents. "There is no chance he survived," Kovalskiy said. Still, without up-close verification, the claim has been met with some skepticism.
The soldier could have moved in those 9 seconds, and weather conditions can affect the trajectory. Experts said such a shot is possible but extremely difficult because of all the variables. "Anything over about 1,300 meters (about 4,265 feet) can be more luck than skill," said Steve Walsh, a former US Marines sniper instructor. Much math is required in a long-distance shot, and even the curvature of the Earth has to be taken into account, as well as temperature, humidity, and wind. A laser was used to measure the distance. Snipers intentionally shoot high in anticipation of gravity's effect.
Kovalskiy, 58, argues that stationary targets have been hit at such lengths in competitions, including in the US; he's won long-distance shooting contests in Europe and North America. Whether anyone outside his country accepts the record or not, the claim has emerged as a source of pride among Ukrainians. Plenty of countries at war have embraced fighting legends, and the Journal points out that snipers especially have been celebrated in the former states of the Soviet Union. An artilleryman said that when Kovalskiy's news reached him in the Kreminna Forest in east Ukraine, it was a "punch the air" moment. He added, "Everyone was talking about it." (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)
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