Navy veteran turned Kremlin propagandist was highly decorated, winning war on terror medal

A US Navy veteran turned pro-Kremlin propagandist was a highly decorated servicewoman who won a string of coveted awards, DailyMail.com can reveal.

Military records for Sarah Bils, a 37-year-old divorced tropical fish seller, obtained by the Daily Mail show she picked up as many as 11 medals and decorations during her 13 years of service.

They include the Global War on Terrorism Service medal given to those who serve directly in anti-terror operations. 

The gong was created by former president George W. Bush to honour those who had fought in the war on terror.

Sarah Bils claimed to be a Russian Jew living in Luhansk and documenting alleged 'war crimes' committed by the Ukrainian army.

Bils left the military 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 native was decorated for her service. 

Such honors are usually reserved for those serving at least 30 days of consecutive duty or 60 days of non-consecutive duty in support of anti-terror operations. 

The records also show that she quit the military on November 27 last year, but no reasons are given for her departure. 

DailyMail.com has asked the US Navy to provide further details about Bils's military service. 

She was unmasked earlier on Monday as the woman behind 'Donbas Devushka', or Donbas Girl, that racked up more than 100,000 followers online.

Her popular social media account spouted 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 that in 2014, the time of the first Russian invasion, she had been travelling between the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and eastern Ukraine.

She alleged 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 participating in 'Russian-style 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 being investigated by the Department of Justice as part of the probe into how leaked Pentagon documents appeared online.

Bils, who had security clearance, denied that she was involved in helping Teixeira.

'I obviously know the gravity of top-secret classified materials,' she was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying.

Teixeira, 21, will next appear in court on Wednesday as Department of Justice investigators continue their probe into how he got access to such top secret information.

One of the leaked documents outlined how Ukraine's stockpile of missiles was running out and required 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 aviation electronics technician with the US Navy and she served at Whitby Island in Washington State.

Her real identity was revealed by volunteers from the North Atlantic Fella Organization, which raises funds for Ukraine and fights disinformation online.

The Ukrainian group was able to unmask Bils thanks to yet another unusual side hustle that she had. 

Aside from serving in the Navy, she also ran a business selling tropical fish and imported food from Poland.

Bils had appeared in a popular podcast about fish tanks in June 2020 that proved to be her undoing.

It allowed NAFO to match up her voice and home interiors to her postings as Donbas Devushka.

Her Twitter account has now been locked, but her YouTube channel where she interviews pro-Kremlin commentators remains online.