Thalita do Valle, 39, was killed in a Russian attack.
Thalita do Vallea 39-year-old Brazilian model turned marksman in Iraq, who had decided to fight alongside the Ukrainians, died in a bunker in Kharkiv hit by Russian missiles.
The woman suffocated, trapped in the rubble of the shelter that collapsed under gunfire, and with her also Douglas Burigoa 40-year-old volunteer who tried at all costs to save her.
In the last video published on Tik Tok, she appears camouflaged, in the car, with a military friend, sitting under the Ukrainian flagposing smiling, with long hair and big blue eyes.
Thalita, who arrived in Ukraine in early June, recounted the experience of the war on her YouTube channel. She had a past as a volunteer for non-governmental organizations and he had been to Iraqi Kurdistan with Kurdish fighters during the war against the Islamic State.
Thalita do Valle, 39, died on June 30.
The trip to Ukraine
There, she said, she had been trained by the Kurds in the use of weapons, had become a marksman, a sniper experience she had brought to Ukraine, where she had provided cover for Kiev’s battalions against Russian troops.
Thalita’s life stopped on June 30 in Kharkov, the second largest Ukrainian city in the east of the country, which after months of Russian bombing remained without two thirds of its inhabitants.
In that restless outpost, where she moves like ghosts chased by anti-aircraft alarms, with residential buildings and universities constantly attacked and looted, the young woman from Sao Paulo had arrived just three weeks ago. His death was confirmed by the family.
“There were Russian attacks and the battalion was divided, the soldiers were separated from each other. Thalita took refuge in the bunker, he died of asphyxiationthe shrapnel didn’t hit her, “said her brother, Theo Rodrigo Vieira.
His death was first reported this week.
The group
She added that she sent messages from the front virtually every day and worked as a rescuer and marksman – she was not the only Brazilian citizen to arrive in Ukraine. Among the fighters who joined the kyiv army against Russians from all over the world there is also a contingent of Brazilians, who arrived in the country in March.
Thalita and Douglas were part of the group that bears the name of “Smoking Cobra”a historical quote referring to Brazilians who volunteered to fight with allies during World War II.
Thalita Do Valle’s name has now entered the list of the thousands who will not return home. Her photos of her joyful energy, carried to war as the banner of life, will remain in the memory of those who have seen her.
ANSA agency
PB
Silvana Logozzo
Source: Clarin
