A Brazilian model who fought as a sniper in Ukraine died of suffocation when trapped in a burning bunker, her devastated family has revealed.
Thalita do Valle, 39, died in a Russian rocket attack on the city of Kharkiv on June 30, and her death was first reported this week.
Her brother Theo Rodrigo Vieira has now spoken out to reveal that she was asphyxiated after being separated from her unit and subsequently trapped in a burning bunker.
Thalita do Valle, 39, died on June 30 while fighting for Ukraine in the city of Kharkiv after becoming trapped in a burning bunker during artillery fire
Thalita had only been in Ukraine for three weeks before she died, where she worked as a rescuer and marksman, providing cover for Kiev’s forces
A photographer and model in her youth, Thalita trained as a marksman while fighting for Kudish Peshmerga forces in Iraq against ISIS (pictured)
Douglas Burigo, 40, a fellow Brazilian who also fights in Ukraine, died in the same attack while trying to save 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 in it.
Her boyfriend returned to rescue her in the period between the bombings and ended up dead. She died of suffocation, she wasn’t hit by shrapnel.’
He revealed that Thalita was born in Ribeirao Preto, in southern Brazil, but had lived in the regional capital of Sao Paulo for 30 years.
She had been a model and actress in her youth before law school, then went to work for charities that helped save animals.
Later in life, she developed a taste for combat and traveled to join the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraq fighting ISIS, which trained her as a sniper.
Theo said she traveled to Ukraine just three weeks ago before being sent to the city of Kharkiv, which is no longer directly attacked by Russia but is still frequently shelled from across the border.
Thalita sent messages from the front almost every day, Theo said, revealing she worked both as a rescuer and marksman.
She was also responsible for providing cover against advancing Russian troops, he said.
Thalita’s brother Theo said she was “motivated by the feeling of saving people” and denied that she was a violent person – despite her military training
The attack also killed former Brazilian army soldier Douglas Burigo (pictured), 40, who was returning to the bunker at Thalita. to find
Theo added: “Thalita has always been involved in humanitarian missions with a country’s foreign legion or here in Brazil.
‘She was always moved by the feeling of saving animals and people.
‘My sister was always peaceful, a real progressive. Weapons are part of a context, war, but she saved lives, she saved animals.
“She never encouraged young people to take up arms. She was a peaceful person.’
Her death made headlines as Ukrainian forces continue to fight bloody battles with Russia in the east, with both sides suffering heavy casualties.
Putin’s army is slowly advancing along a small section of the front line after taking the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk over the past 10 days.
Thalita is pictured during her time with Kurdish forces in Iraq, where she learned to be a sniper
Slovyansk and Kramatorsk are now the next targets, after which he can demonstrate that he has ‘liberated’ the entire Donbas region.
Ukraine’s armed forces are still under fire, but are making Russia pay with blood for every cubit of territory gained, hoping to defeat Putin’s armies before launching a counter-attack to reclaim the lost territories.
Such attacks are already underway in the south of the country as Kiev’s forces advance towards the city of Kherson.
Kherson – the only regional capital to fall under Putin’s men during the invasion so far – is a strategically vital stronghold spanning the Dnipro River.
Taking it back is an equally big question for the Ukrainian military, which has shown only limited counterattacks during the war so far.
However, if they succeed, it will deal a heavy blow to Russia’s claims to “victory” and leave other parts of the south vulnerable.