A US Navy veteran turned pro-Kremlin propagandist was a highly decorated serviceman who won a series of coveted awards, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Military records from Sarah Bils, a 37-year-old divorced tropical fish seller, show that she has won an impressive 11 medals and awards during her 13 years of service.
They include the coveted Global War on Terrorism Service Medal which is awarded to those who serve directly in counter-terrorism operations.
The gong was created by former President George W. Bush to honor those who had fought in the war on terror.
Sarah Bils claimed to be a Russian Jew living in Luhansk who documented alleged “war crimes” committed by the Ukrainian military.
Bils left the army last year, but after being demoted. No reasons were given in the official records for her demotion.
The documents do not state when the New Jersey resident was decorated for her service.
Such awards are usually reserved for those who have completed at least 30 days of consecutive service or 60 days of non-consecutive service in support of anti-terrorist operations.
The records also show that she left the army on November 27 last year, but no reason is given for her departure.
DailyMail.com has asked the US Navy to provide more details about Bils’ military service.
She was exposed earlier on Monday as the woman behind “Donbas Devushka,” aka Donbas Girl, which gained more than 100,000 followers online.
Her popular social media account spewed pro-Moscow propaganda about the war in Ukraine and even tried to raise money for the Russian cause.
They have been praised by pro-Kremlin military bloggers in Russia, such as the highly influential Rybar Telegram channel.
Bils claimed she traveled between the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and eastern Ukraine in 2014, the time of the first Russian invasion.
She claimed that the Ukrainian army was killing people in Luhansk, a city in the Russian-occupied Donbas region of the country.
On her Telegram account, a popular messaging service in Russia and Ukraine, she claims to be participating in “Russian information warfare.”
It recently shared some of the documents allegedly leaked by US National Guard member Jack Teixeira, who was charged with two offenses on Friday.
She is now under investigation by the Justice Department as part of its investigation into how leaked Pentagon documents appeared online.
Bils, who had security clearance, denied any involvement in helping Teixeira.
“I clearly know the seriousness of top secret classified material,” she told the Wall Street Journal.
Teixeira, 21, will appear in court on Wednesday as Justice Department investigators continue their investigation into how he gained access to such top-secret information.
One of the leaked documents outlined how Ukraine’s supply of missiles was running out and needed urgent supplies from Kyiv’s Western allies
She has also posted under the pseudonyms Mila Medvedev, Luganskforlife, CheburekiVibes, MeatballSubZero, YuGopnik, and GhostofLugansk.
But Bils is in fact a former avionics technician in the US Navy who served on Whitby Island in Washington state.
Her real identity was revealed by volunteers from the North Atlantic Fella Organization, which raises money for Ukraine and fights online disinformation.
The Ukrainian group was able to expose Bils thanks to yet another unusual sideshow she had.
In addition to serving in the Navy, she also ran a business selling tropical fish and food imported from Poland.
Bils had appeared on a popular podcast about aquariums in June 2020 which turned out to be her undoing.
This allowed NAFO to match her voice and interior to her postings as Donbas Devushka.
Her Twitter account is now locked, but her YouTube channel where she interviews pro-Kremlin commentators remains online.