When I first met Ryan Wesley Routhhe was wearing a T-shirt smeared with blue and red paint, along with a US flag as a neckerchief. He was standing in the square in front of the famous St. Sophia Cathedral in downtown Kyiv, appearing warm and, at the start of our conversation, quite reasonable, until he eventually said, “We need to wipe Moscow off the map.”
Like most Germans, I heard on that Monday morning about the trump assassination attempt – that a man had been arrested in the US state of Florida for allegedly hiding in a bush on Donald Trump’s golf course and attempting to shoot the former president with an assault rifle. However, I was probably even more surprised than most, because I had once interviewed the suspect.
In mid-May 2022, about three months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Tagesspiegel sent me to the Ukrainian capital to report on the situation there. I observed how Kyiv’s cityscape had changed and conducted many interviews. In front of St. Sophia Cathedral, the first thing that caught my eye was a monument covered for protection with a pile of sandbags. On the back, there were many small flags from different countries. Ryan Wesley Routh had placed these flags there. The then 56-year-old was immediately willing to provide information.
© Sebastian Leber
Routh told me that at that moment, he would have preferred to be at the front. He had bought a bulletproof vest and a helmet back home in the US and wanted to join the Ukrainian army to fight back against Putin’s soldiers. After all, a battle between good and evil was currently taking place here. “We got a fucking war to fight,” he told me.
We need to wipe Moscow off the map before Putin wipes Kiev off the map.
Ryan Wesley Routh
He said he was from North Carolina but lived in Hawaii. He also had German roots. Routh knew on the day of the invasion that he wanted to go to this war. However, it took him a few weeks to sort out all his affairs at home and store his furniture.
Unfortunately, he was not allowed to fight. The Ukrainian army had rejected him when he applied on-site. According to him, he was probably a bit too old and had no military training. Routh regretted this decision very much, especially since he privately owned and could operate numerous firearms. But he had to accept his rejection.
He said he might have been able to join one of the paramilitary groups, as “they take almost anyone.” However, only those who spoke Ukrainian. He didn’t.
Rryan Wesley Routh lived in a dorm in the local youth hostel
Since Routh was denied participation in the war, he now regularly stood at this prominent location in front of the protected monument and offered himself as a contact point for other volunteers. He provided newly arrived foreigners with accommodation and also supplied them with phone numbers of the Ukrainian army so they could apply themselves. According to him, he had already referred 30 to 40 foreigners to various units.
Routh said he was currently following the news very little, as he lived in Kyiv in a hostel dormitory, for 20 US dollars a week, and there was unfortunately no television. He wasn’t wealthy. If he were, he would spend the money on the war rather than on a more comfortable accommodation: “This is no fucking vacation.”
As engaged and committed as he initially seemed, it became increasingly clear during the interview that Routh was fanatical—not only wanting to defend Ukraine but also to kill as many Russians as possible, including civilians. He complained that the Ukrainian army was too cautious and deliberative, even trying to protect the lives of foreign volunteers.
I was glad that Routh was only standing around downtown and not at the front, potentially as a soldier with command authority.
Routh said the Russians could try to attack him
Routh was also angry that no more foreign volunteers had joined the war against Russia. The 50 flags he had placed on the back of the monument represented the 50 nations from which volunteers had come so far. “There should actually be 190 flags there,” he said. It was about “humanity.” I remember the exact wording because I recorded the conversation on tape.
© Sebastian Leber TSP
Routh had painted a red cross on his T-shirt. He wanted to express that he was always available as a target for the Russians. They should feel free to try. He was no “pussy.”
In essence, states should send their own armies, but too many heads of government were afraid of Putin. Once, he briefly fled Kiev because he had a feeling that Putin would launch nuclear bombs at Kiev at night. He wanted to distance himself, got on a bus, and traveled 80 kilometers to another city. When the attack did not happen, he returned the next day.
Rryan Wesley Routh wanted me to spread his message
The risk of Putin using nuclear weapons still existed, he said. That’s why it was so important to strike first: “We need to wipe Moscow off the map before Putin wipes Kiev off the map.” The crucial question was which side would pull the trigger faster. If Joe Biden, the British, or the Germans did not have the courage for such a decision, he could take over at any time: “I pull the trigger!”
On that May day in 2022, Ryan Wesley Routh grew increasingly agitated. At that time, he hoped that I would publish the interview in Tagesspiegel and thus spread his message. Since I found it plausible that Routh was suffering from a mental illness and because his extreme opinion was in no way representative of the dozens of other people I had spoken to in Kiev, I decided against it.
After my return, I often wondered what had become of Routh. At that time, during our meeting, I found it very reassuring that, despite their difficult situation, the Ukrainian army was evidently already carefully avoiding incorporating unstable fanatics into their ranks at such an early stage.
