Sniper Wali makes a reappearance in Russian invasion of Ukraine
The Canadian marksman is still alive and fighting for Ukraine against the Russian invading forces. He is in the Kyiv region and not Mariupol as had been reported.
Wali, the Canadian sniper fighting for Ukraine as they battle the invading Russian forces, has made a reappearance in the media, speaking to our sister newspaper El País. (Note the photo above is a file photo from March).
He remains obsessed with not being identified, hence the use of his fake name, Wali, and has asked for his real name not to be published, nor the exact location where he is stationed.
He did confirm however that he is in the region of Kyiv, and had never been in Mariupol. Russian media had claimed, in mid March, that he had been killed there, a rumour he quashed on social media, saying he was the “last to learn” of his own death in Ukraine. He says the reason he took so long to snuff out the rumours is that he’d moved to the front in Irpin and not taken his cell phone with him, leading to the delay in killing the “fake news”.
Wali has been fighting on Ukrainian soil for five weeks
The rumours surrounding Wali led to a French outlet calling him the “best sniper on the planet”, with a Spanish paper reporting he had killed an Islamic State combatant at a distance of 3,540 metres, a new record. However the foreign combatant explains that was in fact another Canadian. “I’m good with a rifle, nothing more,” he told El País’ Jaime Porras Ferreyra by phone.
He explains he is fighting in Ukraine because of a commitment to “his community and humanity. I’m helping doing what I know how to do.”
How long will Wali be fighting for
The Canadian sniper does not know yet how long he will be fighting in Ukraine for, nor is he worried about what might happen when he returns to his native Canada, saying that would be like “worrying about getting mud stains after a hurricane had passed”. When he returned from fighting in Iraq he had no issues, but the Canadian criminal legislation does contain grey areas about fighting for foreign countries, particularly where they commit war crimes or if they are considered to have joined a terrorist organisation, neither of which would appear to apply to Wali.
Wali Targeted by Russian forces
Given his high profile in the media he knows he is a target for Russian forces, but he says he’s not particularly worried. “It’s a possibility, but I think they will have more pressing targets. I don’t think they’ll put so much energy into getting me.”