Brazilian Model, Who Joined Ukrainian Army As Sniper, Killed In Russian Missile Strike

A Brazilian volunteer soldier, fighting alongside Ukrainian soldiers, has been killed in a Russian military strike, according to Daily Beast. Thalito do Valle was a Brazilian model who was killed when a when Russian forces hit a bunker she was stationed at in Kharkiv, the report further said.

The 39-year-old, a sniper, fought against the Islamic State in Iraq before joining the fight in Ukraine, the Beast said.

Another Brazilian fighter Douglas Burigo was also killed in the missile strike, which comes just three weeks after do Valle arrived in Ukraine.

She had been posting videos of her journey and training in Ukraine on YouTube and TikTok.

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Do Valle received sniper training after joining Pashmergas, the armed military forces of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, according to news.com.au. She participated in animal rescues with various NGOs, the outlet further said.

Meanwhile, Russian troops are engaged in heavy fighting with the Ukrainian forces for the control of the Donetsk region. This comes a day after Moscow declared victory in the neighbouring province of Luhansk.

Russian forces struck a market and a residential area in the city of Sloviansk near front lines in Donetsk, killing at least two people and injuring seven, according to officials, according to news agency Reuters. Ukrainian officials have called on civilians to urgently evacuate Sloviansk as Russian troops press towards it.

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"This week there hasn't been a day without shelling," Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, said on Tuesday evening, adding that the city was now within range of Russian multiple-rocket launchers.

The enemy is shelling chaotically, the attacks are aimed at destroying the local population," he added.

Russian-backed separatists have seized two foreign-flagged ships in the southeast Ukrainian port of Mariupol, saying they are now "state property", in the first such moves against commercial shipping, according to Reuters.