This is the incredible moment a Ukrainian sniper shot dead a Russian soldier from more than two kilometres away – recording one of the longest confirmed kills in history.
The gunman, known as Lektor, stalked his target for more than four days in heavy rain and strong winds, before eliminating him at a distance of 2,069 metres.
He cleanly took out the Russian soldier with a single bullet from his 338 Lapua Magnum-caliber rifle last December.
Lektor and his team had been camping out for several days when they noticed Russian drones flying overhead as the weather conditions cleared.
They were spying on an enemy unit with high-tech machinery – suggesting the group included high-ranking officers or special forces.
Speaking for the first time this week about his ‘extremely difficult’ kill, Lektor claimed the hit was a record for the specific weapon and ammunition he used.
Wearing a mask to protect his identity, he told the Kyiv Post: ‘Pulling the trigger is all about pure shooting skills and you don’t think about anything else.
‘Shots like that are rare, especially in real combat conditions, especially with this calibre.
‘The hit probability was extremely low, but I took the shot and it worked. You have to know your bullet’s trajectory inside and out.’
He added that there is no ‘room for error’ and that if you twitch, a drone will shoot you.
Kyiv’s top intelligence chiefs praised Lektor’s ‘tremendous achievement’ this week.
The head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov said: ‘This will go down in the history of our fight for freedom.
‘Our snipers are a model of professionalism and focus.’
The longest confirmed kill in history is thought to have been recorded two years ago by fellow Ukrainian sniper Viacheslav Kovalskyi.
He shot a Russian dead from over 3,800 metres away after sitting for hours in poor weather conditions.
Briton Craig Harrison, a sergeant who served with the Blues and Royals in Afghanistan, held the record for the longest confirmed kill from 2009 to 2017 and is the only sniper among that elite club to talk about his experience.
Sgt. Harrison told how he was driven to take the shot while fighting in Helmand province in 2009, when a patrol he was part of came under fire from Taliban fighters.
During a three-hour shooting match, Sgt. Harrison recalled seeing his friends get stuck in a gulley under heavy fire from a Taliban machine gun that he could see — though the target was well outside his rifle’s effective range.
Conditions that day were perfect for long-range shooting: No wind, mild weather, and clear visibility. With eight men at risk of being wounded or killed if he didn’t do anything, Sgt. Harrison decided to give it a crack.
After running his calculations, Sgt. Harrison aimed his L115A3 and opened fire — waiting six long seconds to find out if he was right.
He wasn’t. The first bullet missed but the Taliban fighters heard it whistle past and broke off their attack to try and work out where it had come from — though, at that distance, it would have been hard to spot Sgt. Harrison even if he had been standing upright.
Making some corrections, he opened fire a second time and after another agonising wait saw one of the jihadists slump to the floor. He was hit by a burst of adrenaline but knew he needed to take out the second man or else the patrol could still be slaughtered.
Somehow, Sgt. Harrison repeated the impossible: Two more shots, and the second fighter was down. The patrol was safe. Later, an Apache helicopter with a rangefinder was sent up over his firing position to measure the distance to the target and came up with 8,120ft — the longest ever confirmed kill at that time.
It was a record that Sgt. Harrison would hold until 2017, when a Canadian sniper fighting ISIS in Iraq bested his effort in spectacular fashion – taking out a militant at 11,319ft.
