'I Will Stand To The Last': Female Sniper 'Charcoal' Is The New Hero Of Ukraine

Ukraine has a new hero, this time it is a female sniper nicknamed "Charcoal." With her face half-hidden by a shemagh-style scarf and her weapon concealed using camouflage netting, Charcoal is making waves in Ukraine.

The sharpshooter's photos were shared by the Ukrainian armed forces on its Facebook page, under the title "Heroes Of The Modern War." According to the post, Charcoal, "Ugolok" in her native language, joined the Ukrainian marines in 2017, hoping to impress her younger brother, who was also in the Ukrainian armed forces.

She performed combat tasks in eastern Ukraine, where Kremlin-backed separatists in the Donbas region fought the Ukrainian army. The woman, whose real identity is still hidden, served until the end of her contract early this year.

"In January of this year, the sniper ran out of contract and decided to take a break. But she wasn't for long," the post read. When the Russian troops stormed into the country, Charcoal was back in action.

“These are not people. The Nazis were not as vile as these orcs,” the sniper reportedly described the Russians. "We will definitely win. Personally, I will stand to the last!” However, the Ukrainian armed forces did not provide any information regarding her combat successes against the invasion.

Though she soon became a darling of social media, the details are unverified. This is not the first time such descriptions of folk heroes are doing rounds in war-torn Ukraine. Earlier, social media celebrated reports on "Ghost of Kyiv," a fighter pilot who downed six Russian jets, but it ended up being nothing but a tale.

Despite that, many reports have likened Charcoal to Ukrainian-born sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who earned herself the nickname Lady Death as she clocked up 309 Nazi kills in World War II.

There were also reports about a Russian female super sniper, named "Bagheera," who ended up in Ukrainian hands after being left for dead by her comrades on the battlefield. The sniper was said to be responsible for the deaths of more than 40 people while serving with the separatist forces in Donetsk since 2014.

The Peacemaker Centre, which researches crimes committed by Russian separatists in the Ukraine war, reported that Bagheera was 41 years old and had two daughters.