The world holds its breath as the deranged Vladimir Putin prepares to unleash the might of Russian troops in a David vs. Goliath battle for Ukraine’s historic capital Kyiv.
But the despot’s soldiers will pay a crushing price when they finally set foot in the besieged city, according to “Wali,” an elite sniper and Western freedom fighter who plans to destroy them with incredible accuracy.
A veteran of two tours of Afghanistan with Canada’s Royal 22nd Regiment, Vali left his fiancée, one-year-old son and a comfortable life as an IT programmer to respond to Ukraine’s request for foreign recruits.
A few weeks later, he hid high above the streets of Kyiv in a secluded corner, ready to meet the first Russian invader he met with a bullet from his .338 rifle.
“I don’t like the idea of shooting someone. But when it’s time to pull the trigger, I won’t hesitate,” Vali told in an exclusive phone interview.
“If Putin really wants Kyiv, he will have to pay a huge price. Nobody needs Russians here and everyone will resist. The damage we can do to them will be insane. They will lose so many lives that this will become a second Stalingrad.”
A Canadian Army veteran and sniper identified only as “Vali” lurks high above the streets of Kyiv, ready to meet the first Russian invader he sees with his .338 rifle.
People and doctors help a wounded resident of a house destroyed by shelling amid the ongoing Russian attack on Ukraine in Kyiv
According to the latest reports, the Russian infantry has advanced within 15 miles of the closed city of almost three million people.
Vali asked for the nickname he was given in Afghanistan in case former KGB chief Putin learns his identity and tries to attack his family in Quebec.
While his loved ones gathered on Saturday to celebrate his son’s first birthday, Vali spent the day lurking in an abandoned building overlooking what he would reveal as a “strategic location” on the outskirts of Kyiv.
According to recent reports, despite fierce resistance and a string of humiliating setbacks, the Russian infantry advanced to within 15 miles of the closed city of nearly three million people.
But Vali told that he and his gang of Ukrainian brothers would have the upper hand once Putin’s men take to the streets and fall under his gun.
“This is a huge, built-up city, not some village. Looking from where I am right now, I see so many structures and buildings to shoot from, so many places to hide weapons and set up an ambush. They won’t know what hit them,” Vali swears.
“The Russians have already failed to take Kharkov and Mariupol, which are smaller cities. They just can’t stay in Kyiv. It would be better for everyone if they decide not to attack.
Barely two weeks have passed since Vali sat in front of a TV set in Canada, watching Putin launch the biggest military offensive in Europe since World War II.
With a new career in IT and a young family, Vali’s battle days are behind him forever – or so he thought.
It was his boss, a Canadian-Ukrainian with family members stranded in besieged cities, who convinced him that it was his “duty” to respond to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call to arms.
Barely two weeks have passed since Vali sat in front of a TV set in Canada, watching Putin launch the biggest military offensive in Europe since World War II.
Vali honed his shooting skills during 12 years of service in the Canadian Army.
As “a firefighter who hears the alarm,” Vali says he joined his colleague on the next flight to Poland, leaving his fiancée as confused as she was terrified by his decision to throw himself into a brutal 4,000-mile war.
– She was very frightened, said that we need you here, your son needs you. But in the end, she calmed down and said, “Okay, do your duty, but please be safe, don’t take risks,” says Vali.
“When I left, there were many emotions. You don’t know when you’ll be back or if you’ll be back at all. But I know that I have a duty to my family and to the whole world, I will not stay here longer than I have to.
“The saddest thing for me was the lack of celebration of my son’s birthday. Looked for a few minutes on the phone. I was here in the dark, in an abandoned building with a flashlight – it seemed to me that I was on another planet.
Vali says he was greeted with hugs and handshakes on March 3 as he traveled from Poland to Ukraine, passing columns of refugees who trudged in the opposite direction to escape.
He soon became infamous after giving a short interview to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that went viral and made outlandish headlines about how “the world’s deadliest sniper” shot at Putin.
“If that’s what they want to believe, then it’s not so bad. Such stories are needed in the war, it raises morale,” Vali says modestly.
— Yes, I am a good sniper, but I do not deserve such attention. I don’t want to discourage the other soldiers here.
Vali honed his shooting skills during 12 years of service in the Canadian Army.
He was first deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, when he spent six months fighting alongside US troops in Kandahar, returning about a year later to mentor the Afghan police.
After being discharged from the army in 2015, Wali began his first service as a freedom fighter, joining Kurdish forces for four months fighting ISIS terrorists in northern Iraq.
Without the air support, training, and high-tech weapons he’s used to, Vali says that he and his allies have learned to wage war with whatever they can get their hands on.
Russia has stepped up its attacks on Kyiv, with air strikes hitting the city and fighting and artillery fire raging in the suburbs.
Russian President Vladimir Putin today met with Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko in the Kremlin.
“There were no helmets, no ballistic plates, no ammunition. Sometimes I went out on patrol with just two stores,” he recalls.
“There was a time when we drove into a village with a bulldozer, using a large shovel as protection. I hung around thinking this is crazy, I can’t stand it, but the Islamic State fighters were so shocked that they ran away.
“Some of them hid in the house, so the Kurds set fire to it, and when they ran out, they shot them. I can still hear the bullets flying past me. It was an absolutely brutal day that I will never forget.”
Vali says the western regions of Ukraine he passed through on his way to Kyiv were largely unaffected and so far he has not experienced the level of violence and destruction that he has experienced in Iraq.
His reputation as a fearsome marksman won him over to Ukrainian commanders, who entrusted him with a $6,000 .338 military sniper rifle and assigned him to the city’s front ranks.
The Finnish-made pistol, equipped with high-quality optics, is typical of the Western weapons he is accustomed to using, and can hit at a distance of 1,400 meters (1,531 yd).
“This is a high quality rifle. It will do its job, but I will be sad when I have to use it. Every time I shoot, it’s a failure for all the members,” Wali laments.
“Many of these Russian soldiers are just boys. I can’t help thinking that not so long ago they were babies, just like my son. But I will do what is necessary.
As Russia and Ukraine set to meet this week for further peace talks, there is a glimmer of hope that a ceasefire can be achieved without the streets of Kyiv turning into a bloodbath.
Russian airstrikes on Sunday caused severe damage to a Ukrainian military base in Yavoriv, just 19 miles from the Polish border, killing at least 35 people and injuring 134 others.
People take things from an apartment in a house destroyed by artillery shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The nightmare scenario is that Putin rejects any deal and instead decides to destroy the city with airstrikes in a twisted show of force.
“We can’t underestimate the Russians as they have a lot of firepower,” Vali adds seriously.
“There are ways to protect yourself, you can move from building to building, you can change location while they are adjusting the fire.
“So it’s a mixture of luck and skill, like throwing a die. The better you are, the higher the chances, but the dice can always fall on the wrong number. You can be killed, no matter your skill level or who you are.”
If the worst happens, Vali hopes that his young son will grow up realizing that his father died fighting for more than a bloody battle over frozen territory on the eastern fringes of Europe.
“I would like him to be proud of me and grow up believing in the same values that I stand for,” he tells .
Our interview will probably be one of the last calls Vali will make before turning off his cell phone so as not to give away his position to the advancing Russians.
With unshakable faith, he adds: “I’m not only doing this for Ukraine, I’m doing this for everyone. Ukraine is the front line of freedom.”