The 5 Longest-Distance Sniper Kills in Military History

To make an accurate shot from an extremely long distance, military snipers need more than a spotter and a rangefinder. They need to take into account factors such as wind direction, wind speed, air density and even the Earth's rotation. Amid all that, they might be making those calculations while enemy troops are actively trying to find and kill them.

As if all that wasn't impressive enough, the top five longest-distance confirmed sniper kills all came from shots fired at more than a mile away, with the top three coming in from more than two miles away. Since the average human with an unobstructed view can only see 2.9 miles before the curvature of the Earth cuts off their view, there's a good chance the enemy neither saw nor heard the bullet coming.

This list held steady for years, with no changes between 2017 and 2022. Then Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine turned the eastern front into a proving ground for long-range marksmanship, and Ukrainian snipers have since claimed three of the top six spots, including the current record. The latest entry also marks the first confirmed kill in combat history assisted by artificial intelligence and drone guidance, a shift that may say as much about the future of warfare as it does about the skill of the shooter.

Here are the top five, plus one for good measure:

1. Unnamed Ukrainian Sniper (Pryvyd Unit), Ukraine: 2.49 Miles

An unnamed sniper from Ukraine’s elite Pryvyd (“Ghost”) combined sniper unit set a new world record Aug. 14, 2025, for the longest confirmed kill in combat, dropping two Russian soldiers with a single round from 4,000 meters, roughly 2.49 miles, in the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad sector of eastern Donetsk.

The sniper used a XADO Snipex Alligator, a Ukrainian-made 14.5mm anti-materiel rifle originally designed to destroy equipment rather than engage personnel. At 25 kilograms with a 1,200mm barrel, the Alligator was rated for an effective range of 2,000 meters. The shot doubled that.

What sets this record apart from every previous entry on the list is how it was made. The Pryvyd team used a reconnaissance drone and artificial intelligence to acquire and track the targets, calculate firing solutions and confirm the hit. Video published by Ukrainian journalist Yuri Butusov shows the team firing multiple rounds before a final shot passed through a window and struck both soldiers inside the building.

A member of the unit later described the process to the Kyiv Post, emphasizing that these shots are not the work of a lone marksman. The team includes shooters, spotters, AI operators who calculate trajectories and aerial observers who film and provide corrections. As of February 2026, the Pryvyd unit had reportedly eliminated nearly 1,000 Russian personnel in the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad area over the prior year.

2. Viacheslav Kovalskyi, Ukraine: 2.36 Miles

While other shooters on this list go unnamed, 58-year-old Viacheslav Kovalskyi is proud to be known for dropping a Russian officer. An award-winning, long-distance competitive shooter before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he signed up as a sniper that very same day. He joined the counterintelligence agency of Ukraine's Security Service and topped this list with a shot in the Kherson region in November 2023.

Video evidence confirmed that a custom-made round from Kovalskyi's Horizon's Lord anti-materiel rifle connected with a Russian officer 3,800 meters -- or 2.36 miles -- away. The bullet took nine seconds to close the distance with the Russian. After the target doubled over and fell, the other troops scattered.

"I was thinking that Russians would now know that is what Ukrainians are capable of," Kovalskyi told The Wall Street Journal. "Let them sit at home and be afraid."

3. Unnamed Canadian Sniper, Iraq: 2.19 Miles

Canadians might be known for being overly polite, but there's nothing polite about their shooting skills. Three Canadians have held the top spot on the list of long-distance sniper kills in recent years, but the other two were publicly known. The operators in Canada's Joint Task Force 2 are the most elite of our northern neighbor's special operations forces, and this shooter's identity (along with most details of the incident) are still a guarded secret.

Using a .50-caliber McMillan TAC-50 anti-materiel rifle, the JTF-2 sniper posted up in a high-rise building in an undisclosed Iraqi city in 2017. He took aim at an Islamic State fighter attacking Iraqi security forces who couldn't be supported by air strikes due to the proximity of civilians. He then dropped the ISIS fighter from 3,540 meters with a shot verified by video evidence, according to the Globe and Mail.

4. Unnamed Australian Sniper, Afghanistan: 1.74 Miles

In their book, "One Shot Kills: A History of Australian Army Sniping," authors Glenn Wahlert and Russell Linwood detail the story of an Australian soldier with the 2nd Commando Regiment whose record kill at the time of the book's publication in 2014 held the world record for the longest-distance hit at 2,815 meters.

The sniper was one member of two teams in the Kajaki district of Afghanistan's Helmand Province in April 2012. The first team consisted of two privates, one spotter and one shooter while the second had a lance corporal on the rifle and the corporal spotting. The commandos' commander was also spotting with both teams. The gunman used a Barrett M82A1 anti-materiel rifle with a Schmidt and Bender scope and Woods reticle. All three spotters confirmed the shot hit. It was a world record for the longest-distance hit, one that held for the next five years.

5. Unnamed Ukrainian Sniper, Ukraine: 1.68 Miles

Russia intended for its invasion of Ukraine to last a total of three days, but the war continues even more than two years later. By November 2022, Russia was forced to call up its reserves to blunt Ukrainian counteroffensives in the regions around Kharkiv and Kherson due to the more than 100,000 casualties sustained by the Russian army.

If that wasn't enough to boost Ukrainian morale, a special operations soldier of the Ukrainian National Guard hit a Russian "occupier" from 2,710 meters away, securing the No. 2 spot on the list of longest-distance sniper kills at the time. The sniper used a XADO Snipex Alligator, a specially designed, anti-materiel rifle with a claimed effective range of 2,000 meters, made in Ukraine.

6. Cpl. Craig Harrison, Afghanistan: 1.53 Miles

It's not a great idea to release the name of a world record-setting sniper, as Craig Harrison will attest. The British Army named him against his wishes, which led to death threats against him and his family. He also struggled with PTSD after serving as a sniper in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. But when he set the world record for the longest-distance sniper kill, he was providing overwatch for British forces in Afghanistan.

His record-setting shots came in 2009, on a clear, mild day with little wind. He was using an Accuracy International L115A3 against two Taliban machine gunners in Helmand Province. After ranging the targets, he took them out with two sequential shots.

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