A Ukranian girl who grew up to become a teenage sniper in eastern Ukraine conflict has now gone on to win a beauty contest, Mail Online reported.
Olga Shishkina, a 21-year-old, had signed up to fight for pro-Putin forces.
PHOTO: MAIL ONLINEShishkina says she had to fight for acceptance after initially being suspected as a Ukrainian spy.
PHOTO: MAIL ONLINEHowever, she became one of the rebels' deadliest killers, once picking off a target from almost 4,000 feet away.
"I don't think that they might have children, a mother, family. This is war. This way it is easier for me to live,"she said.
PHOTO: MAIL ONLINE"I am not ashamed of myself and I don't feel sorry for them. I didn't kill civilians,"Shishkina said.
She was fighting for the so-called People's Republic of Donetsk, a breakaway region of Ukraine supported by Putin.
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Two years ago she transferred to a unit in Donetsk city as "continued fighting", reported Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP).
More recently she entered a beauty contest - called "Lady of the Republic".
"I passed the castings," adding that, "I became more confident, met many people and realised that there is life apart from army."
She won the title Lady Transformation - for her switch from sniper to beauty queen, winning an expensive laptop as her prize.
She has used it to help start a new venture as a cafe owner in Donetsk, and has - for now - put away her sniper's rifle. She also plans to wed in the near future.
The article originally appeared in Mail Online
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