Ukraine claims that one of its snipers killed a Russian soldier from 9,000 feet (2,710 meters), making it the second-longest fatal combat shot of all time.

A Ukrainian sniper has claimed the second-longest combat kill in history, according to Kiev’s military leaders.

The unnamed sniper killed a Russian soldier at a range of 2,710 meters – about 2.7 miles – according to the Ukrainian military, which released footage of the shot looking through the sniper’s sight.

If confirmed, the Ukrainian sniper would overtake Briton Craig Harrison, who killed two Taliban militants at a range of 2,475 meters in 2009 in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

An unnamed Canadian sniper holds the record for the longest combat kill at 3,540 meters after downing an ISIS fighter at an undisclosed location in Iraq in 2017.

Footage of their killing released by the Ukrainian military shows an image of a man moving between the trees before the gunman took aim at his chest.

The thermal sight appears, indicating that the weapon has been fired, before the figure falls to the ground about three seconds later.

Then a second figure comes running towards the first, in an apparent attempt to help his wounded comrade, before the sniper fires a second time.

Both figures then fall to the ground.

The Ukrainian military did not provide any further details about the incident, such as when and where it was filmed or what weapon or ammunition was used.

Some netizens disputed the images, suggesting that most thermal telescopes could not have seen the Russian soldiers at that distance.

A Canadian sniper holds the record for the longest sniper shot ever at 10,000 ft (3,000 m) – while Britain’s Craig Harrison takes the official second place

Canadians dominate the list of the world’s longest confirmed sniper kills. The province’s special forces are known for the skill of their snipers

Others noted that too little time had elapsed between the firing of the gun and the soldier’s collapse to account for the distance traveled.

When the Canadian sniper made his record-breaking kill in 2017, the military said it took the bullet about 10 seconds to hit its target.

Confirming military killings is a notoriously difficult business that relies heavily on self-reports by soldiers, given the difficulty of obtaining information behind enemy lines during a conflict.

Thus, over-reporting of casualties is common and has plagued military tactics throughout history.

Adolf Hitler is said to have seriously misjudged the strength of the RAF during the Battle of Britain, as the Luftwaffe exaggerated its deaths by a factor of seven in the first weeks of combat.

It later emerged that the RAF had counted their own kills by a factor of two.

In the case of Craig Harrison, the Afghan National Police confirmed that he killed two Taliban fighters when they visited the scene of the shooting shortly after to try to recover the fighters’ weapons.

A British sniper team patrolled Sangin, Helmand Province, Afghanistan in 2006. The sniper who killed six Taliban with one shot was on one of the last British troop operations in Afghanistan

As the war rages, Ukrainian soldiers fire an artillery piece on Russian positions near the front line in Bakhmut, Donetsk

A wrecked Russian military vehicle can be seen in the village of Mirolubovka in Kherson, which was recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces

An Apache helicopter equipped with a laser rangefinder was then sent over Corporal Harrison’s firing position to measure the distance between the two points.

Harrison later said he took the shot with an L115A3 Long Range Rifle and that conditions at the time were “perfect” – no wind, moderate weather and good visibility.

In the case of the record-breaking Canadian shot, it was presumably filmed by a Predator drone that was circling overhead at the time.

The Canadian military said the shot was fired from a McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle from the upper floors of a high-rise building.

A report by news website SOFREP says the killing took place in Mosul and that the gunman and his team had recently practiced long-range sniping.

They shot over the city from increasing distances for several days before breaking the record.

A second shot by the same sniper from a slightly shorter distance missed shortly after the first, the website reported.

The Ukrainian military did not say how it confirmed the efforts of its sniper.

Another British sniper holds another record, killing six Taliban with a single bullet after pulling the trigger of a suicide vest he was wearing.

Corporal (20) of the Coldstream Guards took the beautiful image in December 2013 in Kakaran, southern Afghanistan.

His shot had a range of 850 meters to hit its target, but the same shooter had previously knocked out a Taliban fighter at 1,340 meters.