As soon as the Russian military operations began in neighboring Ukraine, on February 24, 2022, American and Western volunteers rushed to fight once morest the Russians. In the opposite direction, according to a report by the New York Times.
The newspaper published a huge investigation regarding the secrets of combat volunteers in Ukraine or those described as “mercenaries”, and how many of them took advantage of the opportunity of war for theft, enrichment and personal interest, and did not travel to the battlefield for a cause they believe in.
The New York Times reported that it had seen more than 100 documents from volunteer groups fighting in Ukraine, and had spoken to more than 30 of them, as well as donors, fundraisers, and US and Ukrainian officials.
Many spoke to The New York Times on condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the issue and the fact that they are not authorized to speak publicly regarding military matters.
The investigation revealed a series of errors and deductions that greatly affected the mobilization of volunteers to fight once morest Russia, while the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, had asked anyone who was a friend of his country to come to Ukraine to fight.
At that time, Zelensky promised to provide arms to foreign volunteers who wanted to fight once morest the Russian army, so thousands responded to the appeal from several countries in the world.
Since the Russian army was at the time on the outskirts of the capital, Kiev, there was no time for Ukraine to sufficiently check the identities and backgrounds of those who volunteered to fight, and this matter helped infiltrate many people with precedents, or those who provided inaccurate data regarding their “military past.” .
When asked by the Ukrainian army regarding this loophole, it did not give a clear answer, but confirmed that elements of the Ukrainian intelligence services were constantly keen to penetrate groups of volunteers, in order to monitor them closely.
The New York Times quoted the representative of the Ukrainian military intelligence service, Andrei Chernyak, as saying, “We conducted investigations on each case separately, and then handed them over to law enforcement agencies.”
Among the most well-known Americans on the battlefield in Ukraine is James Vasquez, an American home maintenance contractor who volunteered and announced he was going to war as soon as the war broke out.
Vasquez presented himself as a former soldier in the US Army with the rank of sergeant who served in several regions, including Iraq, and posted video clips on some communication platforms in order to convey the atmosphere of war and mobilize donations.
Wholesale lies
And the American volunteer went further, telling the press that he left his family in the United States and went to fight in Ukraine, betting on that to mobilize sympathy, so that he would appear as a person who sacrifices for others.
The volunteer did not hesitate to publish his website while he was on the battlefield in Ukraine, in a move that would expose many fighters to a process of targeting by Russia.
When this volunteer was discovered, a Pentagon spokesman said that the aforementioned volunteer was specialized in repairing electrical equipment, and had never reached the rank of sergeant in the army, nor had he ever served in Iraq.
He added that the fighter, who was found lied, was among the reserve soldiers, and within the framework of one of the lowest rank ever in the US Army.
After the lies were exposed, the US military recently disabled his account on Twitter, and stopped fighting in the ranks of a Ukrainian group described as right-wing. Then he admitted that he had to lie many times in his life, but he did not talk regarding the reason for his expulsion from the US army.
This case is one among other examples of other combat volunteers who traveled to Ukraine for various motives, according to Western experts.
Western reports have warned of the consequences of unreliable volunteers gaining access to American weapons in Ukraine, and their future is also of concern, when the war is over, as they may return to their countries with military experience that they may use in a harmful way.
