Photo: Malcolm Nance/Twitter
As he has many times before, terrorism and intelligence analyst Malcolm Nance appeared on MSNBC’sThe ReidOuton Monday. But for hislatest interview with host Joy Reid, he donned fatigues and revealed that he had joinedUkraine’s fight against Russia— out of a sense of duty, despite the dangers and the stern warnings from the U.S. government.
“I’m DONE talking,” Nance, 61, wrote Monday in atweet that shows him holding up a weapon.
The author, executive director of a counterterrorism think tank and former U.S. Navy senior chief petty officer told Reid that hearing from friends under fire in eastern Ukraine convinced him to join the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, which reportedly includes more than 20,000 foreign volunteers from 52 countries.
“I am here to help this country fight what is essentially a war of extermination,” Nance said onThe ReidOut. “This is an existential war, and Russia has brought it to these people and is mass murdering civilians.”
Though Russia has denied targeting civilians in its invasion of Ukraine,thousands of casualties, including of children, have been reported across the country.
U.S. PresidentJoe Bidenhas called Russian leaderVladimir Putin, who ordered the attack in late February, a"war criminal"and accused Russians ofgenocide.
“We are here for one purpose and one purpose only and that is to protect the innocent people of Ukraine from this Russian aggression,” Nance, who said he joined the fight about a month ago, said on Monday.
“It’s not a conventional war,” he continued, saying that Russians were “using mass heavy weapons that are used in combat against civilians. They are destroying infrastructure and then you find that they go to the cities and massacre men, women and children.”
Nance is not alone in heading to a fight on foreign soil.
Hundreds of Americans previously contacted Ukraine’s embassy in Washington, D.C., answering a call from Ukraine’s foreign minister who initially solicited volunteers after Russia began its invasion.
“Foreigners willing to defend Ukraine and world order as part of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, I invite you to contact foreign diplomatic missions of Ukraine in your respective countries,“the minister wrote on Twitter. “Together we defeated Hitler, and we will defeat Putin, too.”
In an advisory posted to its website, thedepartment saidthat although it was “not a crime under U.S. law for an individual to go abroad for the purpose of enlisting in a foreign army,” it could be a violation if that person was recruited or hired in America — and could even be grounds for “the relinquishment of U.S. citizenship.”
State Department spokesman Ned Price warned in March that beyond the obvious risks to personal safety, “U.S. citizens should be aware that Russia has stated that it intends to treat foreign fighters in Ukraine as ‘mercenaries,’ rather than as lawful combatants or prisoners of war.”
Ukrainian civilian volunteers and reservists of the Kyiv Territorial Defense unit conduct weekly combat training in an abandoned asphalt factory on the outskirts of the capital.Sipa via AP Images
Meanwhile, Russia’sattack on Ukrainecontinues after nearly two months.
More than 4 million have fled the country as refugees — and half are children,according to the United Nations. Millions more have been displaced inside Ukraine.
With NATO forces amassed in the region, various countries are offering aid or military support to the resistance. Ukraine’s PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyyhas called for peace talks — so far unsuccessful — while urging his country to fight back.
Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the best security interests of his country. Zelenskyy vowed not to bend.
“Nobody is going to break us, we’re strong, we’re Ukrainians,“he told the European Unionin a speech in the early days of the fighting, adding, “Life will win over death. And light will win over darkness.”
source: people.com
