A Ukrainian marksman may have set a new record for the longest sniper kill shot after reportedly taking out two Russian soldiers from a distance of 2.5 miles.
To put this incredible feat into context, the distance is equivalent to the stretch between the Empire State Building and The Great Lawn within Central Park in New York. On the west coast, it’s 0.8 miles longer than the length of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.
The sniper is said to have fired from a distance of 13,123 feet, approximately 2.48 miles, using a 14.5mm Alligator sniper rifle. The bullet first passed through a glass window before striking the Russian soldiers.
Video footage of the event shows the sniper firing multiple rounds, with some bullets visibly impacting a wall as a bright light appears, while two soldiers in Putin’s forces are hit.
This incident occurred in Donetsk, a region of Ukraine where Russian forces are thought to control around 70 percent of the territory. The shots were fired from the Pokrovsk–Myrnohrad defensive line.
The sniper is believed to be a member of a unit within Ukraine’s Ground Forces consisting of eight sharpshooters, known as the Ghost unit or Pryvyd.
This operation is thought to have shattered the previous record held by Viacheslav Kovalskyi, a Ukrainian sniper who eliminated a Russian soldier from 12,467 feet, or over 2.3 miles, in 2023.
In comparison, Chris Kyle, a renowned sniper, took down an insurgent armed with an RPG from a distance of 1.2 miles. Kyle served as a Navy SEAL sniper with 160 confirmed kills during his four tours in the Iraq War, potentially saving numerous American lives.
Kyle claimed a total of 255 kills in combat, though the US Department of Defense officially confirms 160. His story inspired the 2014 movie American Sniper, featuring Bradley Cooper.
Further details are expected to emerge.