Ryan Routh, who authorities suspect attempted to attack former President Donald Trump during a round of golf, was a staunch supporter of Ukraine and had visited the country.
Routh’s time in Ukraine:
- Routh traveled to Ukraine after Russia launched a large-scale invasion of the neighboring country more than two years ago, according to videos and images CNN took from Independence Square in Kyiv and interviews with the foreign press.
- He attended a rally in support of Ukrainian troops at the square on May 1, 2022, and visited the same location again about six weeks later. A photo shows him there next to a Ukrainian flag with a call for international volunteers to support the war effort.
In an AFP video released in Kyiv in April 2022, Routh called Putin a “terrorist” and said “he must be eliminated.”
A representative of the Ukrainian Foreign Legion told CNN that Routh had contacted them several times but had never been part of the military unit in which foreign volunteers fight.
Routh also expressed his support for Ukraine on social media, saying in dozens of posts on X in 2022 that he was willing to die in battle and that “we need to burn the Kremlin down.”
He wanted to use Facebook to call on foreigners to fight in the war. Starting in October 2023, he attempted to recruit Afghan conscripts in a flood of posts, posing as an unofficial contact for the Ukrainian government.
