Suspected Gunman Said He Was Willing to Fight and Die in Ukraine
SUMMARY
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was arrested on Sunday in connection with an alleged assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump. Routh, a former roofing contractor from Greensboro, N.C., had previously shared his radical plans to support Ukraine’s fight against Russia. In a 2023 interview with The New York Times, Routh expressed his willingness to "fly to Krakow and go to the border of Ukraine to volunteer and fight and die." His posts on social media platforms X and Signal revealed a fervent desire to recruit Afghan soldiers for the war effort, despite lacking military experience. Routh’s radical ambitions extended to facilitating the illegal movement of Afghan fighters from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine. His history includes previous legal troubles and a pattern of extreme rhetoric. Despite his arrest, it remains unclear whether he followed through on his recruitment efforts.
