An SBU counterintelligence sniper hit a Russian officer from a distance of 3,800 meters, breaking the previous world record.
The information that a Ukrainian sniper set a new world record for the longest shot appeared two weeks ago, but a day before the American edition of The Wall Street Journal confirmed this fact. Journalists spoke directly with Vyacheslav Kovalsky, a 58-year-old sniper in the military counterintelligence unit of the Security Service of Ukraine, who fired the legendary shot.
Operation details
According to media reports, Kowalski eliminated the Russian officer from a distance of 3,800 meters, surpassing the previous record set in 2017 by a member of the Canadian Special Forces in Iraq by 260 meters.
PHI
As the sniper said, on November 18, he and a partner who calculated distance, wind speed and other variables set up positions on the banks of the river near Russian military bases in the region of Kherson. A pair of Ukrainian riflemen watched as groups of Russian military personnel cut down the forest. When one of the Russian officers arrived, the decision was made to shoot.
Kowalski’s partner used a laser to measure the distance to the opponent. Then, using special software and meteorological data, he came to the conclusion that strong winds could move the bullet about 60 meters from its trajectory. In addition, humidity and temperature are taken into account, which affects the speed of the bullet.
Journalists note that for long shots, even the rotation and curvature of the Earth must be taken into account.
Using all these parameters, Kowalski first tried the shot at a distance of about 300 meters to the side of the target. His companion told him that it was a miss because they had miscalculated the wind speed. But the sniper quickly dropped it, reloaded and aimed again.
“We had to (shoot) right away because the wind kept changing,” Kowalski said.
Note that this moment was captured on video by the sniper’s partner. The footage shows the Russian officer gesturing to his subordinates gathered around him, and then the order to shoot is given to Kowalski.
The video shows a nine-second gap between the shot and the hit. American ballistics expert Brad Millard later measured the timing of the shot on the footage and confirmed its authenticity.
Also, as noted in the publication, the sniper always points the barrel above the target, because gravity forces the bullet to fall. Kowalski’s shot looked like a mini-artillery shell, flying more than 100 meters above the target level before hitting the Russian officer.
Doubt over the Ukrainian shooting
At the same time, The Wall Street Journal said that some doubted that Kowalski’s shooting was a record. The same Brad Millard, who developed software to test the ballistics of the weapon, said he doubts how the Ukrainian sniper team knew that the Russian official had been killed.
Kovalsky replied that the bullet hit the Russian in the chest or stomach. The sniper admitted that he had watched the video many times and was sure that the Russian military had died. According to him, the ammunition they used was so large and traveled so fast that it was impossible to survive after that.
“There was no way he would have survived,” Kowalski told reporters.
wsj.com
The publication said the lack of definitive confirmation of the fatal shooting likely led to more skepticism. The media cited the example of British sniper Craig Harrison as an example. His record in Afghanistan in 2009 was only confirmed when the British military found the bodies of two of Harrison’s targets.
Volodar Obryu
Kowalski also told reporters that he was using weapons and ammunition. In particular, 12.7 × 114 HL ammunition for snipers was made to order by one of the Ukrainian gunsmiths. It has a projectile similar to the Canadian, but with a larger body that can hold more powder, making it faster.
And Kovalsky shot from the Volodar Obriu rifle – a multi-caliber sniper rifle developed by the Ukrainian company of the same name with the participation of two other foreigners – the American Bartlein Barrels and the British ARC Ballistics.
wsj.com
The archer and his partner wondered why there was so much hesitation about shooting at such a distance, since they had already hit such targets (even if they were stationary) in competitions.
It turns out that the two men are no ordinary snipers. Kowalski is a former businessman and competitive shooter who spent decades winning long-range shooting competitions in Europe and North America. And he met his partner at such competitions in Ukraine. When the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation began, both volunteered to defend the country.
New Correspondent.net on Telegram and WhatsApp. Subscribe to our channels Athletistic and WhatsApp
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.