Footage posted to Twitter suggests the international legion fighting alongside the Ukrainian army is playing an increasingly active role
US volunteers have been seen in video footage from the frontlines in Ukraine, suggesting that the international legion fighting alongside the Ukrainian army is playing an increasingly active role.
Two video clips featuring US fighters appeared on Twitter on Thursday: one showing an American in combat gear posing in front of the burnt remains of what he said was a Russian tank. Off camera, a Ukrainian shouts “Welcome to America!” and the American repeats the phrase.
In the other, narrated by a different soldier with an American accent, shows a detachment of soldiers taking cover by a wall alongside a road, in a village the narrator claims they have recaptured from the Russians.
The first video was posted by James Vasquez, a US army veteran and building contractor from Connecticut, who, according to his Twitter feed, arrived in Poland on 15 March and crossed into Ukraine the next day, bringing with him several surveillance drones. He was sent to the frontlines from Lviv on 18 March.
“I kind of feel like I’m on an awesome very dangerous vacation,” he said. And in another tweet: “When I need to amp myself up for battle, I just think about the most punchable face on the planet … Tucker Carlson.”
He gives an account of patrolling Ukraine going through numerous checkpoints and showing his passport.
“They are … shocked to see an American passport when I hit checkpoints,” he said. “They let me right through because they think it’s awesome an American soldier is here to fight alongside them.”
In his account of Thursday’s battle for a village he does not name, Vasquez said he was tasked to “find a pack of Russians spotted hiding by civilians” and he used a drone to try to spot them.
A few hours later, he tweeted: “Just went through six straight hours of combat. I have crazy video I’ll post later. 2 men were shot but will be OK. One fatality.”
Initial accounts of the international legion suggested that the foreign volunteers were a mixed bag, many with no experience. The military news website Task&Purpose reported there was “a swarm of Fantasists for every one candidate with experience in combat”.
“Selection apparently follows no discernible process other than separating those that don’t have military experience from those that do. The former are put through a four-week training course – the latter are given a weapon and sent to the front in ad-hoc units with a Ukrainian officer,” the report from Ukraine said.