The Ukrainian sniper believed to have killed a Russian officer from a record 2.4 miles away is a 58-year-old former businessman – who had already started packing his rifle when the bullet hit its target.
Vyacheslav Kovalskiy’s 12,468-foot shot on Nov. 18 traveled the length of two Brooklyn Bridges in about 9 seconds to kill an enemy fighter, according to footage of the incident reviewed by The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
“I think that the Russians will now know that that is what the Ukrainians are capable of,” said the previously anonymous sniper in his first media interview.
“Let them sit at home and be afraid.”
Kovalskiy and his “finders” – who were both members of the Ukrainian Security Service’s counter-intelligence division – initially observed Russian soldiers chopping wood but thought they were too low to shoot, according to the outlet.
Then another group of soldiers appeared, and the Ukrainians realized that one of them was an officer giving orders.
A Ukrainian sniper took out a Russian soldier from nearly 2½ miles away with a high-tech rifle known as “Horizon’s Lord.” SBU The Ukrainian sniper believed to have killed a Russian officer from a record 2.4 miles away is a 58-year-old former businessman. UkraineToday24 / Youtube Vyacheslav Kovalskiy had already started packing his rifle when the bullet hit its target. UkraineToday24 / Youtube The “viewer” just said “You can” and Kovalskiy took a picture. UkraineToday24 / Youtube
Kovalskiy had been lying for hours in near-freezing temperatures when he received orders to shoot his target nearly 2½ miles away.
“You can,” his watcher instructed him.
The sniper was given permission after his friend used a laser to measure distance and specialist software and meteorological data to calculate the effects of wind, humidity, temperature and even the curvature of the Earth.
The wind is projected to change the bullet’s trajectory by about 200 feet.
After a test shot 1,000 feet to the side of the target revealed that they had gotten the wind speed wrong, Kovalskiy reset, reloaded and fired his projectile — half a foot long at 6.2 inches — at 960 mph.
“You need to [shoot] immediately because the wind is always changing,” Kovalskiy explained to the outlet.
This time the target was right on target, breaking the old record for a kill shot of more than 850 feet, the Ukrainian said.
He traveled the length of two Brooklyn Bridges in about 9 seconds to kill enemy soldiers UkraineToday24 / Youtube
But before it was confirmed in the field that he had hit his target, Kovalskiy said, he had already packed his rifle, the Ukrainian-made Volodar Obriyu, which translates to “God of the Horizon.”
Neither Ukraine nor Kovalskiy disclosed the geographical location of the shots heard ’round the world.
While it was seen as a much-needed morale boost to the Ukrainians as their counteroffensive stalled, some in the sharpshooting community remained skeptical of the purported achievement.
Several snipers and ballistics experts interviewed by The Journal said the shot was possible but very difficult to execute.
“For conventional sniping, there are so many variables that it’s hard to measure, so the reality is about 1,300 meters. [about 4,265 feet] can be more luck than skill,” said Steve Walsh, a former US Marine sniper instructor.
US ballistics expert Brad Millard told the newspaper that the 9-second timing of the shot’s trajectory in the video was accurate.
Kovalskiy and his “finders” initially observed Russian soldiers chopping wood but thought they were too low to shoot, according to the outlet. AFP via Getty Images Neither Ukraine nor Kovalskiy disclosed the geographical location of the shot heard ’round the world. AFP via Getty Images
But Millard said he doubted that the Ukrainians knew for sure that the officer was killed, something Kovalskiy denied, citing the size and speed of the bullet.
“There was no way he survived,” Kovalskiy said of the shot, which appeared to hit the man squarely in his torso, according to the footage.
The sniper, who has won long-range shooting competitions in Europe and North America, questioned why some in the international community were skeptical of his deadly shot when stationary targets had been hit at the same distance at the NRA’s King of Two Mile competition in New Mexico.
Kovalskiy signed up as a sniper on the first day of the Russian invasion last year and reportedly had no qualms about killing Kremlin fighters.
“It doesn’t worry me one bit,” said the man.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
