Flame-haired Olga Shishkina, 21, volunteered to fight for the so-called People’s Republic of Donetsk at the age of 18, and quickly made a name for herself as one of the unit’s “best snipers”. Talking for the first time about being a teenage markswoman on the front line of the civil war that has left 10,000 people dead, Miss Shishkina insists she is not a killer but was simply carrying out her duty as a gunwoman. Miss Shishkina, who is engaged to be married said: “I didn’t kill people, it is not correct to word it this way.
“For us, snipers, they are not people. They are targets.
“I shoot living targets and quite often, these are enemies. I don’t think about those who I shoot.
“I don’t think that they might have children, a mother, family. This is war.
“This way it is easier for me to live.”
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She added: “I am not ashamed of myself and I don’t feel sorry for them. I didn’t kill civilians.”
Olga grew up in an orphanage in Horlivka, a city in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk where fighting broke out in 2014 between forces loyal to Vladimir Putin and the Ukrainian army.
She was one of 14 children her mother gave birth to – all of whom were give up to an orphanage. Although her father later collected her, Miss Shishkina was sent back into state care when he passed away when Olga was just five.
After trying to sign-up as a volunteer with the rebels at the age of 17 she was dismissed as being too young and “just a girl”.
Soon after, her city was taken by Ukrainian forces who detained people not loyal to Petro Poroshenko’s government.
As soon as she turned 18, she grabbed her passport, packed a small bag of clothes and made her way in secret to meet with pro-Russian separatists.
Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP), a Ukrainian newspaper, reported that commanders were suspicious of Olga and, thinking she was a saboteur, kept her under surveillance for a month.
But despite her frosty beginning with breakaway forces loyal to the Kremlin she insists it was “all civilised” and understands their actions were “justified”.
After undergoing rudimentary training she was thrust into the frontline as a sniper and proved her commitment with a series of killings including one from 1,200 metres (3,940 ft).
But it was the young woman’s striking beauty not her tally of hit targets which won her an award – the title of Lady Transformation in the Lady of the Republic contest in Donetsk.
For now, the beauty queen has decided to lay down her rifle and throw herself into her new role as a cafe owner and a soon-to-be wife.
Olga who is set to wed a fellow fighter she met on the frontline said: “I tried to get married before. I was proposed to three times and in each case preparations were full-on but we broke up.
“But this time my boyfriend knows what I am like and I think there is nothing can tear us apart.”
Additional reporting by Will Stewart.