Brazilian Model Turned Sniper Fighting In Ukraine Killed During Russian Shelling

Brazilian Model Turned Sniper Fighting In Ukraine Died Of Asphyxiation After Getting Trapped Inside A Burning Bunker

A Brazilian model-turned-sniper fighting in Ukraine died of asphyxiation when she got trapped inside a burning bunker, her devastated family has revealed.

Thalita do Valle, 39, died in a Russian rocket strike on the city of Kharkiv on June 30, with her death first reported this week. Theo Rodrigo Vieira, her brother, has now spoken out to reveal she suffocated to death after getting separated from her unit and then stuck inside a flaming bunker.

Douglas Burigo, 40, a fellow Brazilian also fighting in Ukraine, died in the same attack while trying to rescue her. Brother Theo said: ‘There were successive attacks and the battalion was divided. ‘Thalita went to the bunker. There was already a fire [and] the bunker closed with her inside.

 

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‘Her friend returned to save her in the interval between the bombing and ended up dead. She died of asphyxiation, she wasn’t hit by shrapnel.’ He revealed Thalita had been born in Ribeirao Preto, in the south of Brazil, but had lived for 30 years in the regional capital of Sao Paulo.

She had been a model and actress in her youth before studying law, then went to work with charities helping to rescue animals. Later in life she gained a taste for combat, travelling to join Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraq fighting against ISIS who trained her to be a sniper.

Theo said she travelled to Ukraine just three weeks ago before being sent to the city of Kharkiv, which is no longer under direct attack by Russia but which is still frequently shelled from across the border.

Thalita messaged virtually every day from the front, Theo said, revealing that she was working as a rescuer as well as a sharpshooter. She was also responsible for providing cover from advancing Russian forces, he said.