Ryan Routh, now at the center of an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, had been chasing strange, often impractical dreams in Ukraine long before he was found lurking near a Florida golf course with a loaded rifle. His story takes an odd turn, moving from the war-torn streets of Kyiv, where he tried in vain to recruit soldiers, to the moment he was arrested by Secret Service agents, rifle abandoned in the woods, after getting too close to the former president.
Routh, 58, was familiar among the circles of foreign fighters in Ukraine— although not for the right reasons. He was often described as eccentric, pushing what many saw as silly plans to gather fighters from countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. In private messages from the summer of 2022 to fall of 2023, now made public, Routh was found to be ready in offering names and lists of men he claimed were waiting to join the Ukrainian ranks. “I’ve got 40 or 50 guys sitting around waiting for a fight,” he wrote in one message from July 2022. Yet, over and over again, his offers were declined.
Ryan Routh is mentioned in this NYT article. He alleges that he had planned to move recruits for the war effort into Ukraine illegally from Pakistan and Iran.https://t.co/L0NhVEYVni pic.twitter.com/vfOhmFdjnX
— 𝗠𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗦 (@M_C0MS) September 16, 2024
Officials in Ukraine’s International Legion, which was formed to draw foreign volunteers into their army, were blunt with Routh: “No recruitment from Syria or Iraq! I told you this before,” one officer wrote in November 2022, firmly rejecting his attempts. Undeterred, Routh countered with another suggestion and that was to recruit from Afghanistan.
Routh’s persistence bordered on obsession. He told anyone who would listen about his grand plans to bolster Ukraine’s forces with soldiers from conflict zones across the Middle East. Yet the Ukrainian military did not seem interested in his such volunteer suggestions. Colonel Ruslan Miroshnichenko, the commander of the 2nd International Legion, was very clear about his reaction that Routh’s activities did never match with official policy. “His actions and attitude were often out of step with the recruitment standards of the Ukrainian armed forces,” Miroshnichenko told TIME. Though some speculate Routh did manage to recruit some groups of fighters, the military denied any official connection to his efforts.
In Kyiv, Routh was a familiar face, often described as “basically homeless,” wandering the city’s squares, staying at military barracks or wherever he could find a place to crash. One officer recalled meeting him in Independence Square, flag in hand, grinning and attempting to strike up conversations with anyone in uniform. Yet behind his odd and persistent cheerfulness, there seemed to be a growing frustration. His attempts to involve himself in the war were largely rebuffed.
8)Routh was obsessed with Ukraine.
Routh travelled to Ukraine only months ago. Bizarrely, the New York Times wrote a profile on Routh at that time, where they reported on Routh’s braggadocio over recruiting fighters to the conflict (notably from Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan). pic.twitter.com/YV08s92q2Y
— Alex Zoltan (@AmazingZoltan) September 16, 2024
By the time Routh made his fateful return to the U.S., his frustrations were palpable. His messages to Ukrainian officials took on a bitter tone. He spoke of using the U.S. Secret Service—ironically, the very same agency that would later arrest him—as a means to vet the soldiers he hoped to recruit. “All of these soldiers worked with the U.S. and coalition forces,” he claimed. “Their track records are easy to verify.”
But his last exchanges with the recruiters of Ukranian force were filled with sarcasm and bitterness. When he was rejected finally, he snapped back: “So you have plenty of soldiers… good deal… when do we win this war?”
On Sunday, as Trump played through the fifth hole of his Florida golf course, Routh was discovered by Secret Service officers hiding in the tree line. Armed with a rifle equipped with a scope, he seemed ready to carry out an vulnerable act of firing. But before he could get any closer, he was arrested, his weapon left behind as he fled the scene. His arrest marks a strange and dark phase in a man’s failed attempts to make things happen— first in the chaos of war, and then in the twisted path he followed back home.
Ryan Routh – In a Propaganda video for Ukraine while helping bring people in to war in Ukraine 🇺🇦 Interesting!¡! pic.twitter.com/127UgZPRcc
— MəanL¡LMə♡₩ (@MeanLILMeoW) September 16, 2024
What drove Routh from his failed recruitment schemes in Ukraine to an assassination attempt on U.S. soil remains unclear. His social media posts and a self-published book titled Ukraine’s Unwinnable War hint at a deep, personal disillusionment, not just with Trump— whom he called “brainless”— but with the war itself. With one step further, although it looks as eccentric as his other plan, he encouraged Iran to assassinate Trump in one chilling passage.
Whatever his reasons, Routh’s actions in both Ukraine and Florida suggest a man got lost in his own obsessions, moving from one failed cause to another, growing more desperate with each rejection.
Major Points
- Ryan Routh, 58, attempted to recruit foreign fighters for Ukraine but was repeatedly rejected for his impractical plans.
- Known for his persistence, Routh tried to enlist soldiers from conflict zones like Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, despite objections from Ukrainian military officials.
- His time in Kyiv, marked by homelessness and frustration, reflected his growing disillusionment with the war and his failed efforts to participate meaningfully.
- Routh’s final bitter messages to Ukrainian recruiters hinted at deep frustrations, as he returned to the U.S. with mounting resentment.
- His arrest near Trump’s Florida golf course, rifle in hand, reveals the culmination of his downward spiral from failed causes abroad to a violent plot at home.
Fallon Jacobson – Reprinted with permission of Whatfinger News
