BREAKING: INVASION HAS BEGUN..... Putin's "3-day war"... NOW... 1 YEAR 338 DAYS ...WAGNER HEAD SAYS GROUP STANDING DOWN AFTER CLAIMS OF DEAL
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Biden has done it now
Malcomn Nance is pissed
The US government appears close to sending a long-range multiple-rocket system (MLRS) to Ukraine.
Russia sees such deliveries of heavy weapons as a provocative escalation. President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials have urged delivery of the MLRS to counter Russia's heavy bombardments in the eastern Donbas region. But President Joe Biden said the US would not send Ukraine rocket systems "that can strike into Russia". There are concerns that such action would risk drawing the US and its Nato allies into direct conflict with Moscow.
Moscow has welcomed President Biden's decision not to send weapons to Ukraine that could reach deep inside Russia.
Russia continues to pound Severodonetsk and other parts of Donbas with rockets, tanks and air strikes.
Kyiv's forces are already using US-delivered M777 howitzers, which have a range of about 25km (16 miles). But the MLRS would allow Ukraine to reach targets much further away than that.
An M270 MLRS battery can fire a range of munitions, with the most advanced able to hit targets up to 300km (186 miles) away. However, it can also fire shorter-range rockets with a range of around 70km (43 miles).
Limiting Ukraine to the smaller rockets could be a way for the US to avoid escalating the conflict, while still significantly improving Ukraine's arsenal.
Ukraine may soon get US long-range MLRS rocket system
The US looks set to send the weaponry, but Russia warns it would be a provocative escalation.
www.bbc.com
Russians demine part of seaport in Mariupol, sending stolen steel products to Rostov-on-Don
28.05.2022 11:29
According to Ukrinform, Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova said this on Telegram.
"The looting by the ruscists in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine continues. Following the theft of Ukrainian grain, the occupiers resorted to exporting metal products from Mariupol. To do this, they demined part of the city's seaport," Denisova wrote.
She said that the first ship from Mariupol to Rostov-on-Don carried 3,000 tonnes of steel products. Prior to the occupation, there were up to 200,000 tonnes of metal and cast iron worth $170 million in the port.
In addition, to make it easier to take the loot, the enemy began to restore rail links in Mariupol and Volnovakha.
"With their actions, the occupiers violate the IV Geneva Convention of 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court," Denisova said.
She asked the UN commission investigating human rights violations during Russia's military invasion of Ukraine to take into account these facts of war crimes and human rights violations.
Ukrainian intelligence said on May 10 that Russia was exporting large quantities of stolen food from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. In addition to grain, the enemy is exporting large quantities of stolen vegetables from Ukraine, including beets, potatoes, and cabbage.
This takes out a lot of Putin’s agency and the economic realities of this war. A good part of this war is related to oil and Putin just being a dick
Just curious why say it’s related to oil
Look at the map starting around 15 March and then look at the map for 29 May.
After it was apparent that they weren't taking the country in days as planned, MANY said that they should quickly pivot to connecting Crimea and then declare "victory". Think of all of the russian troop/equipment loses that have taken place in that time period for negligible at best gains. Makes no sense how inept this shit has been but I am certainly entertained...
A French journalist has been killed after an armoured evacuation vehicle in which he was travelling was hit by shrapnel from a Russian shell in the city of Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian and French authorities have said.
News channel BFMTV said in a statement it was “immensely saddened” to announce the death of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, 32, who had worked for it for six years and was on his second tour of the conflict, adding that the journalist and cameraman was killed on the road to Lysychansk.
“Our reporter was covering the ongoing war. He was the victim of shrapnel while following a humanitarian operation in an armoured vehicle on Monday,” the 24-hour news station said.
French journalist killed by shrapnel from Russian shell in eastern Ukraine
Journalist was in an evacuation vehicle in Sievierodonetsk, the largest city in the Donbas still held by Ukrainian forces
Funny, we dont see many articles from the "free-thinkers" on Putin demanding rubles anymore.
EU leaders on Monday backed a ban on most Russian oil imports, after a compromise deal with Hungary to punish Moscow for the war in Ukraine.
The 27-nation bloc has spent weeks haggling over a proposed total embargo on Russian oil but came up against stubborn resistance from Hungarian premier Viktor Orban.
EU leaders meeting in Brussels hatched a compromise deal to exempt deliveries by pipeline from the ban, after Budapest warned halting supplies would wreck its economy.
"Agreement to ban export of Russian oil to the EU. This immediately covers more than two thirds of oil imports from Russia, cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine," European Council chief Charles Michel tweeted during the summit.
"Maximum pressure on Russia to end the war."
The head of the EU's executive, Ursula von der Leyen, said the move "will effectively cut around 90 percent of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year" as Germany and Poland had committed to renounce deliveries via a pipeline to their territory.
The wrangling over the sixth package of sanctions has rocked European unity in the face of the Kremlin's attack on Ukraine after five waves of unprecedented economic punishment on Russia.
Despite the gap in the embargo left by Hungary's opposition, the latest round of sanctions represents some of the most damaging measures taken by the EU so far. Michel said the package also involved disconnecting Russia's biggest bank Sberbank from the global SWIFT system, banning three state broadcasters and blacklisting individuals blamed for war crimes.
www.france24.com
EU leaders on Monday backed a ban on most Russian oil imports, after a compromise deal with Hungary to punish Moscow for the war in Ukraine.
The 27-nation bloc has spent weeks haggling over a proposed total embargo on Russian oil but came up against stubborn resistance from Hungarian premier Viktor Orban.
EU leaders meeting in Brussels hatched a compromise deal to exempt deliveries by pipeline from the ban, after Budapest warned halting supplies would wreck its economy.
"Agreement to ban export of Russian oil to the EU. This immediately covers more than two thirds of oil imports from Russia, cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine," European Council chief Charles Michel tweeted during the summit.
"Maximum pressure on Russia to end the war."
The head of the EU's executive, Ursula von der Leyen, said the move "will effectively cut around 90 percent of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year" as Germany and Poland had committed to renounce deliveries via a pipeline to their territory.
The wrangling over the sixth package of sanctions has rocked European unity in the face of the Kremlin's attack on Ukraine after five waves of unprecedented economic punishment on Russia.
Despite the gap in the embargo left by Hungary's opposition, the latest round of sanctions represents some of the most damaging measures taken by the EU so far. Michel said the package also involved disconnecting Russia's biggest bank Sberbank from the global SWIFT system, banning three state broadcasters and blacklisting individuals blamed for war crimes.
EU agrees ban on 'more than two thirds' of Russian oil imports
EU leaders on Monday backed a ban on most Russian oil imports, after a compromise deal with Hungary to punish Moscow for the war in Ukraine.
www.france24.com
Denmark supply was shutoff because they didn’t want to pay.Funny, we dont see many articles from the "free-thinkers" on Putin demanding rubles anymore.
EU leaders on Monday backed a ban on most Russian oil imports, after a compromise deal with Hungary to punish Moscow for the war in Ukraine.
The 27-nation bloc has spent weeks haggling over a proposed total embargo on Russian oil but came up against stubborn resistance from Hungarian premier Viktor Orban.
EU leaders meeting in Brussels hatched a compromise deal to exempt deliveries by pipeline from the ban, after Budapest warned halting supplies would wreck its economy.
"Agreement to ban export of Russian oil to the EU. This immediately covers more than two thirds of oil imports from Russia, cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine," European Council chief Charles Michel tweeted during the summit.
"Maximum pressure on Russia to end the war."
The head of the EU's executive, Ursula von der Leyen, said the move "will effectively cut around 90 percent of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year" as Germany and Poland had committed to renounce deliveries via a pipeline to their territory.
The wrangling over the sixth package of sanctions has rocked European unity in the face of the Kremlin's attack on Ukraine after five waves of unprecedented economic punishment on Russia.
Despite the gap in the embargo left by Hungary's opposition, the latest round of sanctions represents some of the most damaging measures taken by the EU so far. Michel said the package also involved disconnecting Russia's biggest bank Sberbank from the global SWIFT system, banning three state broadcasters and blacklisting individuals blamed for war crimes.
EU agrees ban on 'more than two thirds' of Russian oil imports
EU leaders on Monday backed a ban on most Russian oil imports, after a compromise deal with Hungary to punish Moscow for the war in Ukraine.
PREPARE FOR A LONG DARK WINTER: RUSSIA PLACES BAN ON RUSSIAN OIL
Dr. Fly Mon May 30, 2022 7:17pm EST3 Comments 2153
The EU announced a ban of Russian oil consisting of 2/3rds of imports with a goal of 90% by the end of 2022. Couple that with the gas issues they’re having, resistant of paying up in Rubles, the entire continent of Europe places themselves in the unenviable position of having to freeze the coming winter, or at a minimum endure the pangs of shortages and a sharp reduction of economic activity. This is scorched earth now. The west is afflicting its citizenry with the harshest of all penalties in order to attempt to win in the Ukraine, a war which appears to be almost conclusively one sided in favor of Russia.
Brent crude is bidding near $122 now and futures are soft.
On the issue of Ukraine, EU’s Borrell commented on how Europe might do in a war against Russia.
EU BORRELL: “Look, the European armies couldn’t maintain a war like the one in Ukraine for more than two weeks. They’ll run out of ammunition.”
In conclusion: The United States has deemed Ukraine of utmost national importance and has subsequently ordered Europe to go along for the ride, in an attempt to destroy the Russian state. To do this, instead of outright war with Russia, we intend to send wonder weapons into Ukraine so that the Ukrainian men could fight and die for our position there. We have taken over full control of Ukraine’s finances and military needs and will not negotiate with Russia for a diplomatic end.
The financial ramifications have been minimal for Russia, but severe for the west as rampant inflation and supply chain shortages wreak havoc.
About half of the country is in favor of war with Russia for Ukraine — because they have been told fighting for democracy is oh so important. A similar tale was told before the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars
Dr. Fly Mon May 30, 2022 7:17pm EST3 Comments 2153
The EU announced a ban of Russian oil consisting of 2/3rds of imports with a goal of 90% by the end of 2022. Couple that with the gas issues they’re having, resistant of paying up in Rubles, the entire continent of Europe places themselves in the unenviable position of having to freeze the coming winter, or at a minimum endure the pangs of shortages and a sharp reduction of economic activity. This is scorched earth now. The west is afflicting its citizenry with the harshest of all penalties in order to attempt to win in the Ukraine, a war which appears to be almost conclusively one sided in favor of Russia.
Brent crude is bidding near $122 now and futures are soft.
On the issue of Ukraine, EU’s Borrell commented on how Europe might do in a war against Russia.
EU BORRELL: “Look, the European armies couldn’t maintain a war like the one in Ukraine for more than two weeks. They’ll run out of ammunition.”
In conclusion: The United States has deemed Ukraine of utmost national importance and has subsequently ordered Europe to go along for the ride, in an attempt to destroy the Russian state. To do this, instead of outright war with Russia, we intend to send wonder weapons into Ukraine so that the Ukrainian men could fight and die for our position there. We have taken over full control of Ukraine’s finances and military needs and will not negotiate with Russia for a diplomatic end.
The financial ramifications have been minimal for Russia, but severe for the west as rampant inflation and supply chain shortages wreak havoc.
About half of the country is in favor of war with Russia for Ukraine — because they have been told fighting for democracy is oh so important. A similar tale was told before the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars
Netherlands too. So far it is Denmark, Netherlands, Poland, Finland and Bulgaria.
Wasn't this supposed to be the thing that broke European unity on isolating Russia?
“The government understands GasTerra’s decision not to agree to Gazprom’s unilaterally imposed payment terms," Dutch Energy and Climate Minister Rob Jetten said in an emailed statement. "This decision has no consequences for the physical delivery of gas to Dutch households. GasTerra has bought extra gas in preparation for this situation. Therefore, it is expected that there will be no consequences for physical deliveries of gas to the Dutch business sector either."
Ørsted also said it was prepared for a Russian shutoff. Its contract for 2.05 billion cubic meters of gas per year expires in 2030.
"Gazprom Export continues to demand that Ørsted pays for gas supplies in roubles. We have no legal obligation under the contract to do so, and we have repeatedly informed Gazprom Export that we will not do so," the company statement reads. "Therefore, there is a risk that Gazprom Export will stop supplying gas to Ørsted. In Ørsted’s view, this will be a breach of contract."
Dutch and Danish gas buyers warn of Russian shutoff
Russia has already ended gas deliveries to Poland, Bulgaria and Finland.
www.politico.eu
Netherlands too. So far it is Denmark, Netherlands, Poland, Finland and Bulgaria.
Wasn't this supposed to be the thing that broke European unity on isolating Russia?
“The government understands GasTerra’s decision not to agree to Gazprom’s unilaterally imposed payment terms," Dutch Energy and Climate Minister Rob Jetten said in an emailed statement. "This decision has no consequences for the physical delivery of gas to Dutch households. GasTerra has bought extra gas in preparation for this situation. Therefore, it is expected that there will be no consequences for physical deliveries of gas to the Dutch business sector either."
Ørsted also said it was prepared for a Russian shutoff. Its contract for 2.05 billion cubic meters of gas per year expires in 2030.
"Gazprom Export continues to demand that Ørsted pays for gas supplies in roubles. We have no legal obligation under the contract to do so, and we have repeatedly informed Gazprom Export that we will not do so," the company statement reads. "Therefore, there is a risk that Gazprom Export will stop supplying gas to Ørsted. In Ørsted’s view, this will be a breach of contract."
Dutch and Danish gas buyers warn of Russian shutoff
Russia has already ended gas deliveries to Poland, Bulgaria and Finland.
yea these sanctions talks been a issues
The have folks looking at each other sideways
Well It’s gonna be a cool/cold winter for a few of these countries
In the meantime but in the long term Russia will lose that battle as those countries push up their push for alternatives to Russian oil.
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A French journalist has been killed after an armoured evacuation vehicle in which he was travelling was hit by shrapnel from a Russian shell in the city of Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian and French authorities have said.
News channel BFMTV said in a statement it was “immensely saddened” to announce the death of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, 32, who had worked for it for six years and was on his second tour of the conflict, adding that the journalist and cameraman was killed on the road to Lysychansk.
“Our reporter was covering the ongoing war. He was the victim of shrapnel while following a humanitarian operation in an armoured vehicle on Monday,” the 24-hour news station said.
French journalist killed by shrapnel from Russian shell in eastern Ukraine
Journalist was in an evacuation vehicle in Sievierodonetsk, the largest city in the Donbas still held by Ukrainian forceswww.theguardian.com
that looks bad
Russian Soldiers Refuse to Fight Due to Shrinking Paychecks: Report
By Emma Mayer On 5/30/22 at 1:14 PM EDT
Some Russian soldiers who fought in Ukraine are refusing to return and fight due to lower paychecks, according to a report from the Russian news outlet Caucasus.Realities.
Members of the Russian Guard from Krasnodar, a city in Russia, have filed reports refusing to be sent back to Ukraine. According to a source from the Federal Troops of the National Guard, several of the soldiers cited dissatisfaction with the amount they were paid during their time in Ukraine from February to April as the reason for refusing to fight, Caucasus.Realities reported.
The source explained in the report that part of the reason paychecks were shrinking was due to the growing exchange rate of the ruble, Russia's currency.
"Just the other day, a payment for the second month of being there came. And if for the first month they paid 100 thousand, now it's 50. The command explained this by the fall in the dollar exchange rate—the payment is calculated from about 50 dollars per day of stay, but is made in rubles at the Russian exchange rate," the source said.
The report summarized that if the dollar rate in Russia on March 10 was 120 rubles, it was 56 rubles by May 26, hence why payments from the military had changed.
Despite the international economic sanctions against Russia that have slowed economic growth even more than countries predicted, the ruble's value has grown significantly, jumping nearly 150 percent since it initially collapsed right after the invasion began, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Decreasing soldiers' paychecks does little to help with the current issue of low morale and mistreatment within the Russian military. While paychecks shrink, soldiers have been asked to pay for weapons and supplies with their own money.
The Russian military has reportedly taken to promising significant signing bonusesto those who sign short-term military contracts. A military official in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya was recently offered a first-month salary of 300,000 rubles ($5,200) during a recruitment attempt, according to The Moscow Times.
Still, Russian troops are facing significant losses coming from inside their own factions. Russian military officers are reportedly refusing to follow orders, and some troops have reportedly sabotaged their own vehicles to avoid going to the frontlines. Contracted soldiers have been threatened with criminal charges should they attempt to quit, though Newsweekcould not independently verify these claims.
Russia has been focusing its offensive in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said last week that "fighting has reached its maximum intensity," according to The Washington Post.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian defense ministry for additional comment.
By Emma Mayer On 5/30/22 at 1:14 PM EDT
Some Russian soldiers who fought in Ukraine are refusing to return and fight due to lower paychecks, according to a report from the Russian news outlet Caucasus.Realities.
Members of the Russian Guard from Krasnodar, a city in Russia, have filed reports refusing to be sent back to Ukraine. According to a source from the Federal Troops of the National Guard, several of the soldiers cited dissatisfaction with the amount they were paid during their time in Ukraine from February to April as the reason for refusing to fight, Caucasus.Realities reported.
The source explained in the report that part of the reason paychecks were shrinking was due to the growing exchange rate of the ruble, Russia's currency.
"Just the other day, a payment for the second month of being there came. And if for the first month they paid 100 thousand, now it's 50. The command explained this by the fall in the dollar exchange rate—the payment is calculated from about 50 dollars per day of stay, but is made in rubles at the Russian exchange rate," the source said.
The report summarized that if the dollar rate in Russia on March 10 was 120 rubles, it was 56 rubles by May 26, hence why payments from the military had changed.
Despite the international economic sanctions against Russia that have slowed economic growth even more than countries predicted, the ruble's value has grown significantly, jumping nearly 150 percent since it initially collapsed right after the invasion began, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Decreasing soldiers' paychecks does little to help with the current issue of low morale and mistreatment within the Russian military. While paychecks shrink, soldiers have been asked to pay for weapons and supplies with their own money.
The Russian military has reportedly taken to promising significant signing bonusesto those who sign short-term military contracts. A military official in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya was recently offered a first-month salary of 300,000 rubles ($5,200) during a recruitment attempt, according to The Moscow Times.
Still, Russian troops are facing significant losses coming from inside their own factions. Russian military officers are reportedly refusing to follow orders, and some troops have reportedly sabotaged their own vehicles to avoid going to the frontlines. Contracted soldiers have been threatened with criminal charges should they attempt to quit, though Newsweekcould not independently verify these claims.
Russia has been focusing its offensive in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said last week that "fighting has reached its maximum intensity," according to The Washington Post.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian defense ministry for additional comment.
More stories from folks who went to Ukraine to fight the Russians…
me personally I like the insight from the Canadian sniper because he’s someone we heard about.
Ukraine war volunteers are coming home, reckoning with difficult fight
Americans and other foreign fighters who’ve taken up arms against Russia describe glaring disparities in what they expected and what they experienced
Alex Horton
Dakota, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who fought in Ukraine before suffering a head injury, is now back home in Ohio. (Megan Jelinger for The Washington Post) Dakota, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who fought in Ukraine before suffering a head injury, is now back home in Ohio. (Megan Jelinger for The Washington Post)
To Dakota’s surprise, it wasn’t the shelling that terrified him most.
A Marine Corps veteran who volunteered to fight in Ukraine, he has taken cover behind walls as Russian gunfire punched through and felt the throttle of artillery so many times that his catchphrase, “It’s normal,” became a joke within the unit.
What wasn’t normal, he said, was the feeling of dread while he hid and listened as Russian attack helicopters strafed the position his team of tank hunters had just fled. That moment, he said, “was quite honestly the most unsettled I had been the entire time.”
Dakota, who is home in Ohio now after seven weeks of fighting abroad, is among the legion of Western volunteers who have taken up arms against Russia. Like others, he spoke on the condition that his full name not be disclosed, citing concerns for his safety and that of family and friends.
American killed in Ukraine was a volunteer, fellow fighters say
In interviews with The Washington Post, foreign fighters from the United States and elsewhere described glaring disparities between what they expected the war to be like and what they experienced. They recalled going into battle underequipped and outgunned, the occasional thrill of blowing up Russian vehicles, and feeling torn over whether to go back to Ukraine. Some intend to do so. Others saw friends die and decided enough is enough.
For several, an inflection point came in late April when 22-year-old Willy Joseph Cancel, another Marine Corps veteran, was killed in combat northwest of Mykolaiv, a region that has seen ferocious violence as Russian commanders have sought to widen territorial gains. The full circumstances surrounding Cancel’s death remain a mystery, and his body has not been recovered. Attempts to speak with Cancel’s family were unsuccessful.
There are no known U.S. military personnel in Ukraine, and the Biden administration has sought to discourage American citizens from independently joining the fight, though it is not against the law to do so. Officials have said that the battlefield is complex and dangerous, and that Americans wishing to help the Ukrainian cause should look to do so by other means. And while the exact number of Americans volunteering is unknown, an estimated 4,000 expressed interest after the invasion in late February. Many entered the fight after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky personally appealed to foreign volunteers to journey there and fight.
Despite risks and official warnings, U.S. veterans join Ukrainian war effort
Military veterans, in particular, have been drawn to the war, emboldened by their combat training and an eagerness to apply their skills in a conflict that, for many, feels like a struggle of good versus evil.
But the conflict also has drawn Western military veterans who either have never deployed into combat previously or have experienced only asymmetrical insurgencies — not this type of war, with contested airspace, unrelenting rocket bombardment, and swarms of drones with sophisticated thermal targeting technology.
Dane Miller, a U.S. Army veteran, went to Poland to take on a quieter but significant role — helping to run logistics for refugee aid centers and sending crucial supplies over the border into Ukraine. He has also assisted volunteer networks in reviewing prospective foreign fighters’ military records, to assess whether they “have the chops … to take on a massive military,” he said. While many do, a common theme is that swagger sometimes stands in place of relevant experience, he noted. He has advised some veterans against going into Ukraine.
“There’s this idea of heroism and it’s glorified. I will look at your 214 and tell you if you’re ready for this,” he said, referring to the U.S. military’s discharge paperwork, DD Form 214, that lists the training and certifications completed while in uniform.
Why Russian troops are using tree branches for camouflage in Ukraine
In the Marines, Dakota spent four years as an antitank missile gunner, according to his service record provided by the Marine Corps. He never saw combat but did spend time in Afghanistan as a contractor, he said.
He put his first semester of college on hold so he could fight the Russians, saying a “righteous indignation” compelled him to go for it. He arrived in Ukraine within days of the invasion. Commanders were eager, he said, to tap his knowledge of U.S.-manufactured Javelin anti-armor weapons, thousands of which have been transferred to the Ukrainian army.
Dakota’s cohort of foreign volunteers was attached to a Ukrainian military unit and brought by yellow school bus to Kyiv, from which they were sent northwest into an embattled town outside the capital. It was early March. They were issued antitank weapons and Javelin missiles but no batteries for the launch unit, he said. Without a power source, the equipment was inoperable.
Homes were on fire, Dakota recalled. His unit gathered for a patrol through the woods. A commander motioned with his hand: “Everything that way is Russian.” Artillery blanketed the area. The Ukrainians and their volunteers dispersed. Some went into trench lines, other went into homes. One abandoned residence still had a Christmas tree set up, he recalled. Some Russian troops fell back as the fighting intensified, and they left behind a wounded comrade who wailed into the night, Dakota said.
By the end of the second night, eight of the 20 volunteers in Dakota’s unit had abandoned their posts, he said, including a fellow Marine veteran who appeared to break his machine gun with a rock in the hope of passing it off as battle damage. Another feigned an injury, he said.
Dakota fought throughout the Kyiv region and later was dispatched to the south to help train others on using the Javelin. On one mission, he said, he was unable get a lock on a Russian tank with a cold thermal signature. Then, four men climbed onto the hull to sit and smoke. The sight locked on their body heat. His missile pulverized the vehicle, a strike captured on video.
An American volunteer named Dakota fires a Javelin missile at a Russian tank east of Mykolaiv, Ukraine, in April. (Video: Obtained by The Washington Post)
Russian artillery pounded their position a half-hour later, and Dakota’s team withdrew under the cover of night. About a week later he felt nauseated and carsick. He was diagnosed with a brain injury linked to his proximity to the shelling, he said, and left for home toward the end of April. He has been in recovery ever since.
“It’s not over. It’s not done. It’s not finished,” he said.
Other volunteers described different frustrations. Pascal, a veteran of the German army, was on a team with Cancel, the American killed in combat in late April. Problems arose during their first mission, he said.
The team suspected their two-way radios were being monitored by Russian forces, and they lacked extra batteries, forcing them to rely on unsecured cellphones and WhatsApp to communicate. Soon after they exchanged plans, their position was attacked by Russian artillery, he said.
The volunteers felt underinformed during many of their missions, not knowing where they were — and, vitally, where the Russians were, Pascal said. The day Cancel was killed, he said, they took fire from a position they believed to be Ukrainian but didn’t have radio communication to confirm. Two members of the team ventured out to investigate. Gunfire sounded, and they never returned, he said.
The remaining team members came under heavy Russian fire, including artillery rounds, from the same direction, Pascal said. One team member was killed in the shelling. Pascal and another volunteer turned their attention to Cancel, who had been struck by shrapnel, he said. They applied tourniquets in a fruitless attempt to stop the bleeding. Their bodies were left behind as Pascal and another survivor withdrew.
That was Pascal’s last mission. He later crossed into Poland. Miller, the American volunteer, met him at a bar in Warsaw and noted how shaken up he seemed. They stepped outside and Miller consoled him, using Google Translate to find the right words in German. They hugged.
“From the beginning, we had no chance,” Pascal said in an interview. “I was asking myself why I survived and the others did not.”
A Ukrainian-born man who is a naturalized U.S. citizen spoke with The Post on the condition he be identified only by his radio call sign: Texas. He recalled how, early in the war, he saw images of his hometown on fire and left to join the fight two days later.
Texas, who earlier this month returned to his home in Houston, never served in the military. He works in an office. But he’s a quick study, he said, and soon was imparting lessons learned from his American colleagues to the Ukrainians whom he fought alongside — things like tactical theories for conducting ambushes, and staying out of sight from Russia’s surveillance drones and vehicle-mounted optics.
Texas patrolled in hunter-killer teams in southern Ukraine, he said, including one mission where he spotted a T-72 tank dug into a berm near Mykolaiv, its turret barely visible from more than two kilometers away. Texas fired a missile and it sliced through the tank just next to the turret. A success — but the rest of the team let out a groan. They wanted to see a column of fire propel the tank’s turret high into the air.
“It didn’t explode the way we wish it would,” said Texas, whose lessons were documented in an April report by the Wall Street Journal. “We were kind of bummed about that.”
Life at home lacks the sense of purpose and excitement, Texas said. He’s mired in divorce proceedings, initiated before he left for Ukraine, and occasionally hears from friends who update him over text about their successful tank harvests.
In quiet moments, he reflects on what he has taken from the experience, good and bad. He’s more relaxed at work and doesn’t stress about small inconveniences the way he used to. But something is missing, he said, and he is tempted every day to get it back.
“Once you see that life-and-death contrast, and you come back to a peaceful life and a peaceful job,” he said, “everything seems to be less meaningful by comparison.”
me personally I like the insight from the Canadian sniper because he’s someone we heard about.
Ukraine war volunteers are coming home, reckoning with difficult fight
Americans and other foreign fighters who’ve taken up arms against Russia describe glaring disparities in what they expected and what they experienced
Alex Horton
Dakota, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who fought in Ukraine before suffering a head injury, is now back home in Ohio. (Megan Jelinger for The Washington Post) Dakota, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who fought in Ukraine before suffering a head injury, is now back home in Ohio. (Megan Jelinger for The Washington Post)
To Dakota’s surprise, it wasn’t the shelling that terrified him most.
A Marine Corps veteran who volunteered to fight in Ukraine, he has taken cover behind walls as Russian gunfire punched through and felt the throttle of artillery so many times that his catchphrase, “It’s normal,” became a joke within the unit.
What wasn’t normal, he said, was the feeling of dread while he hid and listened as Russian attack helicopters strafed the position his team of tank hunters had just fled. That moment, he said, “was quite honestly the most unsettled I had been the entire time.”
Dakota, who is home in Ohio now after seven weeks of fighting abroad, is among the legion of Western volunteers who have taken up arms against Russia. Like others, he spoke on the condition that his full name not be disclosed, citing concerns for his safety and that of family and friends.
American killed in Ukraine was a volunteer, fellow fighters say
In interviews with The Washington Post, foreign fighters from the United States and elsewhere described glaring disparities between what they expected the war to be like and what they experienced. They recalled going into battle underequipped and outgunned, the occasional thrill of blowing up Russian vehicles, and feeling torn over whether to go back to Ukraine. Some intend to do so. Others saw friends die and decided enough is enough.
For several, an inflection point came in late April when 22-year-old Willy Joseph Cancel, another Marine Corps veteran, was killed in combat northwest of Mykolaiv, a region that has seen ferocious violence as Russian commanders have sought to widen territorial gains. The full circumstances surrounding Cancel’s death remain a mystery, and his body has not been recovered. Attempts to speak with Cancel’s family were unsuccessful.
There are no known U.S. military personnel in Ukraine, and the Biden administration has sought to discourage American citizens from independently joining the fight, though it is not against the law to do so. Officials have said that the battlefield is complex and dangerous, and that Americans wishing to help the Ukrainian cause should look to do so by other means. And while the exact number of Americans volunteering is unknown, an estimated 4,000 expressed interest after the invasion in late February. Many entered the fight after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky personally appealed to foreign volunteers to journey there and fight.
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Military veterans, in particular, have been drawn to the war, emboldened by their combat training and an eagerness to apply their skills in a conflict that, for many, feels like a struggle of good versus evil.
But the conflict also has drawn Western military veterans who either have never deployed into combat previously or have experienced only asymmetrical insurgencies — not this type of war, with contested airspace, unrelenting rocket bombardment, and swarms of drones with sophisticated thermal targeting technology.
Dane Miller, a U.S. Army veteran, went to Poland to take on a quieter but significant role — helping to run logistics for refugee aid centers and sending crucial supplies over the border into Ukraine. He has also assisted volunteer networks in reviewing prospective foreign fighters’ military records, to assess whether they “have the chops … to take on a massive military,” he said. While many do, a common theme is that swagger sometimes stands in place of relevant experience, he noted. He has advised some veterans against going into Ukraine.
“There’s this idea of heroism and it’s glorified. I will look at your 214 and tell you if you’re ready for this,” he said, referring to the U.S. military’s discharge paperwork, DD Form 214, that lists the training and certifications completed while in uniform.
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In the Marines, Dakota spent four years as an antitank missile gunner, according to his service record provided by the Marine Corps. He never saw combat but did spend time in Afghanistan as a contractor, he said.
He put his first semester of college on hold so he could fight the Russians, saying a “righteous indignation” compelled him to go for it. He arrived in Ukraine within days of the invasion. Commanders were eager, he said, to tap his knowledge of U.S.-manufactured Javelin anti-armor weapons, thousands of which have been transferred to the Ukrainian army.
Dakota’s cohort of foreign volunteers was attached to a Ukrainian military unit and brought by yellow school bus to Kyiv, from which they were sent northwest into an embattled town outside the capital. It was early March. They were issued antitank weapons and Javelin missiles but no batteries for the launch unit, he said. Without a power source, the equipment was inoperable.
Homes were on fire, Dakota recalled. His unit gathered for a patrol through the woods. A commander motioned with his hand: “Everything that way is Russian.” Artillery blanketed the area. The Ukrainians and their volunteers dispersed. Some went into trench lines, other went into homes. One abandoned residence still had a Christmas tree set up, he recalled. Some Russian troops fell back as the fighting intensified, and they left behind a wounded comrade who wailed into the night, Dakota said.
By the end of the second night, eight of the 20 volunteers in Dakota’s unit had abandoned their posts, he said, including a fellow Marine veteran who appeared to break his machine gun with a rock in the hope of passing it off as battle damage. Another feigned an injury, he said.
Dakota fought throughout the Kyiv region and later was dispatched to the south to help train others on using the Javelin. On one mission, he said, he was unable get a lock on a Russian tank with a cold thermal signature. Then, four men climbed onto the hull to sit and smoke. The sight locked on their body heat. His missile pulverized the vehicle, a strike captured on video.
An American volunteer named Dakota fires a Javelin missile at a Russian tank east of Mykolaiv, Ukraine, in April. (Video: Obtained by The Washington Post)
Russian artillery pounded their position a half-hour later, and Dakota’s team withdrew under the cover of night. About a week later he felt nauseated and carsick. He was diagnosed with a brain injury linked to his proximity to the shelling, he said, and left for home toward the end of April. He has been in recovery ever since.
“It’s not over. It’s not done. It’s not finished,” he said.
Other volunteers described different frustrations. Pascal, a veteran of the German army, was on a team with Cancel, the American killed in combat in late April. Problems arose during their first mission, he said.
The team suspected their two-way radios were being monitored by Russian forces, and they lacked extra batteries, forcing them to rely on unsecured cellphones and WhatsApp to communicate. Soon after they exchanged plans, their position was attacked by Russian artillery, he said.
The volunteers felt underinformed during many of their missions, not knowing where they were — and, vitally, where the Russians were, Pascal said. The day Cancel was killed, he said, they took fire from a position they believed to be Ukrainian but didn’t have radio communication to confirm. Two members of the team ventured out to investigate. Gunfire sounded, and they never returned, he said.
The remaining team members came under heavy Russian fire, including artillery rounds, from the same direction, Pascal said. One team member was killed in the shelling. Pascal and another volunteer turned their attention to Cancel, who had been struck by shrapnel, he said. They applied tourniquets in a fruitless attempt to stop the bleeding. Their bodies were left behind as Pascal and another survivor withdrew.
That was Pascal’s last mission. He later crossed into Poland. Miller, the American volunteer, met him at a bar in Warsaw and noted how shaken up he seemed. They stepped outside and Miller consoled him, using Google Translate to find the right words in German. They hugged.
“From the beginning, we had no chance,” Pascal said in an interview. “I was asking myself why I survived and the others did not.”
A Ukrainian-born man who is a naturalized U.S. citizen spoke with The Post on the condition he be identified only by his radio call sign: Texas. He recalled how, early in the war, he saw images of his hometown on fire and left to join the fight two days later.
Texas, who earlier this month returned to his home in Houston, never served in the military. He works in an office. But he’s a quick study, he said, and soon was imparting lessons learned from his American colleagues to the Ukrainians whom he fought alongside — things like tactical theories for conducting ambushes, and staying out of sight from Russia’s surveillance drones and vehicle-mounted optics.
Texas patrolled in hunter-killer teams in southern Ukraine, he said, including one mission where he spotted a T-72 tank dug into a berm near Mykolaiv, its turret barely visible from more than two kilometers away. Texas fired a missile and it sliced through the tank just next to the turret. A success — but the rest of the team let out a groan. They wanted to see a column of fire propel the tank’s turret high into the air.
“It didn’t explode the way we wish it would,” said Texas, whose lessons were documented in an April report by the Wall Street Journal. “We were kind of bummed about that.”
Life at home lacks the sense of purpose and excitement, Texas said. He’s mired in divorce proceedings, initiated before he left for Ukraine, and occasionally hears from friends who update him over text about their successful tank harvests.
In quiet moments, he reflects on what he has taken from the experience, good and bad. He’s more relaxed at work and doesn’t stress about small inconveniences the way he used to. But something is missing, he said, and he is tempted every day to get it back.
“Once you see that life-and-death contrast, and you come back to a peaceful life and a peaceful job,” he said, “everything seems to be less meaningful by comparison.”