Failed Donald Trump assassin Ryan Wesley Routh bombarded Ukrainian army staff for months with ‘insane’ plans to send Middle Eastern soldiers to fight Russia.
Obsessed and refusing to take no for an answer, he promised thousands of seasoned recruits despite having no way of getting them to the front line.
Ukrainian foreign legion recruiters said they were driven mad by relentless pitches and got calls from would-be fighters after he posted their numbers online.
Routh’s ‘crazy crusade’ only stopped earlier this year, months before he allegedly set out to shoot dead Trump as he played golf in West Palm Beach.
‘He was obsessed with recruiting from Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq. I told him multiple times to stop but he kept trying to sneak around and find different contacts… everyone said no,’ one told DailyMail.com.
‘He was trying to convince us he knows better and people telling him to stop.’
Failed Donald Trump assassin Ryan Wesley Routh bombarded Ukrainian army staff for months with ‘insane’ plans to send Middle Eastern soldiers to fight Russia
Routh at a rally demanding China’s assistance to organize an extraction process for Ukrainian service members from Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol
Text messages between Routh and legion recruiters and soldiers revealed his absurd plans and impossible promises, no matter the irritation he caused.
Routh, 58, initially tried to join the legion himself, but was rejected when he showed up in Ukraine at the beginning of the war because he was too old and had no military experience.
Instead, he spent months – he claimed eight of them – hanging around in Kyiv going to rallies and getting in front of every media camera he could find.
He even set up a makeshift memorial to ‘foreigners killed by Putin’ in the Ukrainian capital’s Independence Square, where he lingered for months.
Routh even set up a makeshift memorial to ‘foreigners killed by Putin’ in the Ukrainian capital’s Independence Square, where he lingered for months. This photo was taken on April 30, 2022
Malcolm Nance, a former US Navy intelligence officer and MSNBC pundit who ran intelligence for the legion, said Routh was a master of self-promotion.
He often hung out in St Michael’s Square, outside the Intercontinental Hotel where Western journalists like those form the CNN and the BBC stayed.
Wearing eye-catching clothes printed with the American flag, he was frequently interviewed begging foreigners to come fight for Ukraine.
In one interview with Newsweek Romania he called the war ‘good versus evil’ and implored people to ‘get off the couch and come to Ukraine and defend the human rights of everyone around the globe’.
‘He was a crazy, self-appointed crusader who ran a recruiting NGO in his head. He supported no one in the International Legion,’ Nance said.
‘His crazy schemes were his own. I’ve never met him or spoke to him. He was a well-know crazy hanging around Kyiv early in the war.’
Routh also erected a tent in Independence Square to publicize his recruitment efforts, until local police dismantled it.
‘I am here in Kyiv and want to use Independence Park to create a tent city of all the foreigners here in support to get thousands more foreign civilians to come and support Ukraine,’ he wrote on Twitter at the time.
Malcolm Nance, a former US Navy intelligence officer and MSNBC pundit who ran intelligence for the legion, said Routh was a master of self-promotion
Recruiters and soldiers Routh harassed with his schemes were scathing in their condemnation in the days following his shootout with the Secret Service on Sunday.
‘Ryan Routh is a mentally ill grifter who hung around in Ukraine pretending to be a recruiter, doxxing people, and trying to grease up the legion with promises of thousands of Afghans,’ Cath Fawr, a British sniper fighting in Ukraine, said.
‘The door was closed in his face at every turn because his problems were obvious to everyone.’
A legion HQ staffer, who asked not to be named, shared messages Routh sent her last year offering up to 20,000 trained soldiers.
‘All of these soldiers worked with the US and coalition forces so their track record is easy to see,’ he wrote on November 9 last year.
‘We got military records out of Congress and the Secret Service can also provide their 20 years of service and of the 10,000 or 20,000 all we need are Ukrainian visas, we can handle the rest.’
The legionnaire asked how they were going to get to Ukraine even with a visa, and said they could come to fight if they followed the same process as all other foreign volunteers.
‘So you have plenty of soldiers… good deal… when do we win this war??’ Routh replied.
The next day, Routh messaged her a bunch of names whom he contacted and claimed one was looking into visas.
‘I know Maci Nayemi hates the idea, as he has Bullet call me any time the topic arises. Damien was more receptive,’ he wrote.
She replied to say one of them was fired, Damien left the legion more than a year earlier, and the rest ‘probably are NOT checking visas for these guys’.
Damien Magrou was the former head of the legion’s communications, who mysteriously fled Ukraine in August 2022 amid controversy.
A legion HQ staffer, who asked not to be named, shared messages Routh sent her last year offering up to 20,000 trained soldiers
The next day, Routh messaged her a bunch of names whom he contacted and claimed one was looking into visas
No one is sure to what extent Routh actually had fighters willing to go to Ukraine, or how he found them without speaking their language.
‘I think they did exist but obviously he was not doing it with anyone’s approval and there was no vetting at all,’ the legionnaire said.
‘I don’t know if they were actual soldiers or just random people hoping to get a free ride out of Afghanistan.’
Many Afghan soldiers fled to neighboring Iran after the Taliban retook the country in 2021, having supported the US-backed administration, and are desperate to leave the poor conditions they are living in.
Routh likely found some of them via a website he set up to recruit fighters, promising $1,200 a month and no military experience necessary.
‘Volunteering in Ukraine is the most honorable and noble sacrifice, and every human on the planet should be here for freedom and human rights and we need thousands,’ the website read.
The website included his phone number, with a voicemail calling himself ‘Ryan from Hawaii’ who was working with the ‘National Volunteer Center, sending soldiers to Ukraine, as well as Taiwan’.
He earlier claimed in interviews to be part of the International Volunteer Center, which strongly disavowed him.
Routh posted photos of himself during his time in Ukraine including of himself in Kyiv
In some photos, Routh dyed his hair yellow and blue to show his support for Uktrine
Evelyn Aschenbrenner said Routh’s website also for a time included the contact details of actual legion recruiters like her, which led to her getting phone calls from soldiers as far away as Uganda.
During her sporadic contact with him, he sent her a pdf file with the names of 6,000 Afghans he claimed were willing to fight for Ukraine.
He also spoke of trying to arrange US military transport flights from Iraq to Poland, who would then cross the border into Ukraine.
Aschenbrenner warned foreign soldiers about Routh a year ago, telling them to ignore him and that he was not associated with the legion in any way.
She told them he ‘talked about illegally smuggling in Afghanistan citizens the Ukraine to fight in the legion’.
‘Avoid any contact with Routh, as he misrepresents what he can legally do. He is not a legion recruiter,’ she wrote.
Some of many WhatsApp messages Routh sent Aschenbrenner claimed he had ‘thousands of Afghan soldiers if you need soldiers’.
Aschenbrenner if they spoke English or had visas and if he could vet their military experience, knowing the answer would be no.
‘Because that just sounds like a massive security risk. Also, the legion has a recruiting system that you are not part of. You are absolutely not helping anything by doing this,’ she replied on November 19.
Ryan Wesley Routh holds up a banner during a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday April 30, 2022
No one is sure to what extent Routh actually had fighters willing to go to Ukraine, or how he found them without speaking their language
Routh persisted: ‘They worked with the US so getting background checks is easy; we have to sort through them all just like any country; take the good ones and leave the selfish greedy ones.’
Aschenbrenner pleaded with him to back off as it was making her job harder.
‘Do less. Please. And please, PLEASE, do not start telling thousands of Afghanis to come to Ukraine. That’s absurd. If you did nothing at all, I’d be grateful,’ she wrote.
The conversation took a bizarre turn when Routh switched to acting as if he no longer cared about the war effort after her rejection.
‘I live in Hawaii on a beautiful sandy beach with beautiful girls in bikinis all day,’ he wrote.
‘That’s a weird thing to tell a female soldier. Wtf,’ Aschenbrenner replied.
Routh continued: ‘Really… point is I am happy and not worried about Ukraine… Congress is cutting all funding now it seems… good luck.
‘Ukraine has chased away all foreign support; it is just the reality; just because I am speaking facts. Ukraine does not want help – you said it.
‘Once China attacks Taiwan they can give everything they have to Putin; the gates will open and I and the world will see the end of Ukraine.’
Evelyn Aschenbrenner said Routh’s website also for a time included the contact details of actual legion recruiters like her, which led to her getting phone calls from soldiers as far away as Uganda
Some of many WhatsApp messages Routh sent Aschenbrenner claimed he had ‘thousands of Afghan soldiers if you need soldiers’
The conversation took a bizarre turn when Routh switched to acting as if he no longer cared about the war effort after her rejection
Concerned that Routh was still operating, Aschenbrenner issued another warning about him on Twitter on June 21 this year.
‘Warning about Ryan Routh: he is not, and never has been, associated with the International Legion or the Ukrainian Armed Forces at all,’ she wrote.
‘He is not, & never has been, a legion recruiter. He is misrepresenting himself and lying to many people.
‘Routh is either human trafficking, scamming people, or attempting to break as many country’s laws as he can by trying to smuggle people into Ukraine to fight,’ she wrote.
‘This is unethical, unprofessional, and unacceptable. Worse, he is doing this by insisting he is helping Ukraine.
‘Routh has posted soldiers phone numbers on websites without permission; given out recruiters phone numbers to people without permission; manipulates people to breaking laws.’
Aschenbrenner shared screenshots of person who messaged her on WhatsApp after seeing her number on Routh’s website to hammer home her point.
Routh also contacted a group of special operators from UK and Norway fighting in Ukraine earlier this year as he grew more desperate.
He first claimed he ‘works with the Afghan soldiers’ and had one who was accepted into the brigade.
Routh also contacted a group of special operators from UK and Norway fighting in Ukraine earlier this year as he grew more desperate
‘We have thousands of soldiers to offer, so if you need 5,000 or 10,000 we are here to help,’ he wrote in February 4
The group explained Routh contacted them via an Afghan whose application for the legion was on their list at a time they were taking on foreigners as a test project, and they looked into it – until he started meddling.
‘We have thousands of soldiers to offer, so if you need 5,000 or 10,000 we are here to help,’ he wrote in February 4.
The soldier asked: ‘Who is we and what is your position.’
‘I help coordinate soldiers that wish to fight for Ukraine. I have a relationship with thousands of Afghan soldiers… I work for myself,’ Roth wrote.
Routh later explained he was back in the US, but ‘I will travel back to work on transit visas and get these guys to Ukraine’.
He tried again on March 6, claiming ‘we have thousands of soldiers that are extremely cheap’.
It will be a good constant flow of great soldiers. I will manage the risk. Bunadov and I can deal with deserters,’ he claimed.
The soldier said they were concerned about them using it as a means to escape and then disappear.
‘We don’t need a flow, we need 30 that won’t f**k off… Honestly this seems like a load of crap and fantasies. So unless someone is able to act like a solid professional, we’re pulling the plug,’ they wrote.
Routh later explained he was back in the US, but ‘I will travel back to work on transit visas and get these guys to Ukraine’
The soldier said they were concerned about them using it as a means to escape and then disappear
The group said Routh’s persistence didn’t do the Afghans any good, as he had made them all sorts of promises when in reality they didn’t have the money to get to Ukraine and would have to smuggle themselves into the country.
‘So they got pretty upset when we told them that we don’t give them visas or EU passports, we don’t have US army planes flying them out of Afghanistan to EU, and we’re not paying anyone’s travel to Ukraine,’ they said.
‘This was something that Ryan guy had lead them to believe, and we got yelled at as if we weren’t holding our end of the deal.
‘A deal that never existed, and we had to clear up the reality of the situation for them. Pretty sad, as they thought they had a way out of their horrible country and a chance of a new life in Europe.
‘And Ryan R had no clue what he was trying to sell.’
Not only was Routh trying to recruit for Ukraine, he also claimed he was going to provide supplies.
He set up a GoFundMe in May 2022, run by Kathleen Shaffer, who claimed to be his fiancée.
She wrote that donations would pay for tactical gear, lodging and supplies and Routh had already ‘arranged for delivery of 120 drones to the front lines’.
The fundraiser collected just $1,800 of its goal before it was shut down after his arrest, and legionnaires said Routh provided nothing to the war effort at all.
Images revealed the backpack, GoPro camera and SKS-style rifle that the gunman left behind
Routh grew more disillusioned with the Ukraine war as he was constantly rebuffed, and in one interview complained about his lack of progress and how he was ‘yelled at by most everyone’.
‘I have had partners meeting with [the Ministry of Defense] every week and still have not been able to get them to agree to issue not one single visa for any of these soldiers,’ he told Semafor last year.
‘Ukraine is very often hard to work with. Many foreign soldiers leave after a week in Ukraine or must move from unit to unit to find a place they are respected and appreciated.
‘They’re afraid that anybody and everybody is a Russian spy.’
Routh finally gave up on it all, and complained bitterly in his self-published book, which is still for sale on Amazon for $2.99.
The title was: Ukraine’s Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment and the Global Citizen – Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea and the end of Humanity.
‘As the International Legion struggles for the simplest of vehicles to get soldiers around at the front line and Malcolm is forced to buy his own computers for HQ and Stu to buy lights and cars and basic necessities, it makes one wonder where all the US funding is going,’ he wrote in one part.
Routh published ‘Ukraine’s Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment, and the Global Citizen,’ last year
Nance told DailyMail.com he was almost certainly the Malcolm mentioned in the passage, as it was broadly accurate.
‘Seemed like a compliment,’ he said.
The book also urged Iran to assassinate Trump due to his dismantling of the 2015 Obama Administration deal to ease sanctions in exchange for the regime not developing nuclear weapons.
Routh’s tweets were no less unhinged, one declaring ‘we need to burn the Kremlin to the ground’.
‘I am coming to Ukraine from Hawaii to fight for your kids and families and democracy… I will come and die for you,’ another read.
He also tweeted at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s account, telling him ‘I am an American coming to fight with you in Ukraine’.
‘I am flying into Krakow and will take any transport to Kyiv to meet you and fight to the death… We must get every civilian in the world to come and join the fight; I will be the example. Attack Moscow now.’
Russian state-controlled media wasted no time in claiming Routh’s alleged assassination attempt was a Ukrainian-backed operation.
‘I wonder what would happen if it turned out that the failed new Trump shooter Routh, who recruited mercenaries for the Ukrainian army, was himself hired by the neo-nazi regime in Kiev for this assassination attempt?’ former Russian Prime Minister and Russian President Vladimir Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev wrote.
Routh’s tweets were no less unhinged
Routh eventually moved on from Ukraine to focus on an even more bizarre plan – recruiting volunteers to fight for Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion
Routh eventually moved on from Ukraine to focus on an even more bizarre plan – recruiting volunteers to fight for Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.
He started a website called the Taiwan Foreign Legion, on which he claimed to have spent two weeks in Taiwan ‘going to every single government office and speaking to everyone that I could possibly find to encourage more preparation for war’.
‘Shall we let Taiwan fall? We should encircle Taiwan with military ships and support with military might,’ he wrote in his book.
‘If we wait, such as we have done in Ukraine, it will be a 10 minute war and we will all be standing around like fools yet again.’
Routh ranted about his attempts to get soldiers into Ukraine and Taiwan in an email to a man he bilked out $3,600 for a failed building deal.
Routh began by defending the work he had done before pivoting into a tirade about Taiwan and telling him: ‘You disappoint me as a human being’.
‘I spent 5 months in Ukraine last year and 3 months there this year, and 2 weeks in DC and 2 weeks in Taiwan this year volunteering and trying to supply thousands of Afghan soldiers to help win the war and I spent thousands of dollars supporting freedom, human rights and democracy around the world and I come back to bullsh**t such as this,’ he wrote.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk