After the “Ghost of Kyiv“, the Snake Island resistance, and “Wali – the greatest sniper”, the latest myth to take the internet by storm from Ukraine is “Charcoal”. A lady sniper who has emerged as the legend keeping Russian forces at bay.
On Sunday, the Ukrainian Army posted a series of images of a female sniper, “Charcoal“, seen in camouflage, covering her face with a green mask. In these images, Charcoal was seen carrying a sniper rifle.
According to the New York Post report, Charcoal joined the US Marines in 2017, hoping to impress her younger brother. The Ukrainian forces have hailed her a “hero of the modern war.” She is now being compared to the legendary Second World War sharpshooter, nicknamed “Lady Death”.
The reports also claimed that the lady sniper has fought in Ukraine’s east region against Russia-supporting separatists and served until the end of her contract in January this year. Later, she returned to fight the Russians after they launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24.
“These are not people. The Nazis were not as vile as these orcs. We must take them all out!” a report by the Independent quoted her as saying.
However, no other information on Charcoal is available in the public domain. The Ukrainian army has refused to divulge any information regarding her combat successes.
Is the “Charcoal” story another myth propagated by the pro-Ukrainian media?
With this, Charcoal has become the latest sensation in this theater of war, similar to reports of a mysterious fighter ace destroying Russian fighter jets in the early days of the war. They had claimed that the “Ghost of Kyiv”, a MiG-29 pilot, had downed two Su-35s, one Su-27, one MiG-29, and two Su-25s of the Russian Airforce.
Ukrainian pilot who is 6-0 shoots down a Russian Su-35 with his Mig-29. He’s been nicknamed the ghost of Kyiv, and is the first pilot since WW2 to achieve ace status! pic.twitter.com/WsoadzLrdQ
— Olegi21 🇺🇦💙💛 (@ItsOlegi21) February 25, 2022
Well, it did not end with the mysterious ghost of Kyiv. Weeks later, another name popped up on social media platforms, an elite Canadian sniper, nicknamed “Wali” became the talking point as pro-Ukraine social media users described him as the world’s greatest sniper. The rumors were that “Wali” has arrived in Ukraine to fight the Russians as a volunteer fighter.
The rumors were that Wali is one of the world’s best snipers. A veteran of the Royal Canadian 22nd Regiment, Wali had arrived in war-torn Ukraine earlier this month to fight the Russian forces, the reports had claimed.
One of the world’s best snipers has arrived in Ukraine.
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 8, 2022
The French-Canadian “Wali” from the Royal Canadian 22e Régiment made his reputation during tours in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq
He fought in the same Canadian unit as the sniper with the world’s longest kill (3.5 km)
🇨🇦🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/iWOZiyUXpC
Wali’s story was nothing short of a fairy tale. He was sold as one of the best snipers in the world as he provided 40 kills on a productive day. The pro-Ukraine social media accounts had also claimed that Wali had served twice in the Afghanistan war between 2009 and 2011.
However, there was no solid evidence to prove the existence of either “Ghost of Kyiv” or “Wali”. Very similar to Snake Island heroes who actually surrendered
The story of “Charcoal” could also be another fairy tale peddled by the NATO-backed media to feed false information to the people of Ukraine to prop up their confidence in the face of the Russian invasion.
The orchestrated campaign of spreading misinformation aims to influence public opinion at large, especially in the west. However, so far, the disinformation blitzkrieg on social media has not helped Ukraine, as nothing has changed on the ground in favor of Ukraine.
