A Connecticut US Army veteran who joined forces with Ukraine’s military to repel the Russian invasion has gone viral after footage of him standing in front of rows of still-blazing Russian tanks circulated online.
James Vasquez, 47, publicly announced his plan to leave his family and business in Norwalk on February 24 – the day Russia invaded.
He finally made it to Ukraine on March 15 – sharing his adventures along the way via a newly created Twitter account, detailing how he helped “take out” scores of Russian tanks, as well as killing and capturing Russian troops.
“Welcome to America!” someone yells in one of his videos — seen more than 2 million times since it was posted on Thursday — as Vasquez stands in front of a smoking Russian tank.
“I don’t know if you know what that was behind me,” Vasquez said as he posed with one of his comrades-in-arms, “but that’s a Russian tank. First tank taken out.”
“So far we’ve knocked out seven Russian tanks after a long firefight and taken control of the area,” he said in one Update early Friday.
This village has been occupied by Russians for a month, they have been terrorizing the people and taking away their food. Today we invaded, took out 7 tanks and countless Russians, freeing these people pic.twitter.com/0Fm3qHdepB
— James Vasquez (@jmvasquez1974) March 24, 2022
“For now, we’re just going to sweep around and see what we have left. Some laggards – take them out and get it over with,” said the former US Army sergeant, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. “It’s been a long day baby.”
Another clip showed him excitedly counting four blazing armored vehicles while cheering, “Yeah mate… me Call that a good day!”
It’s not just tanks that fall victim to Vasquez and his colleagues, as the American boasted in a tweet on Tuesday: “159 Russians captured today!“
Vasquez has also displayed his guns on social media, showing off grenades and a machine gun.
James Vasquez (third from right) has been on the road in Iraq and Afghanistan – and now he’s helping Ukrainian forces against Russia.Twitter/@jmvasquez1974
Vasquez publicly stated his plan to leave his family and business in Norwalk on February 24.Twitter/@jmvasquez1974
Vasquez says he was well received by Ukrainian soldiers.Twitter/@jmvasquez1974
“I had a pretty broken gun,” he captioned a picture of an automatic rifle on Wednesday, “so I went for it Take this bad boy by a Russian.”
Vasquez also witnessed the war casualties, admitting on Thursday that one member of his team was killed and two others injured.six hour fight.”
While Vasquez does not say where he is in Ukraine, he previously revealed that he was woken up by massive explosions in the western city of Lviv.
However, instead of feeling scared, Vasquez last week insisted that “I kinda feel like I’m on one great, very dangerous holiday.”
Vasquez has displayed his guns – including grenades – on social media.Twitter/@jmvasquez1974
Vasquez says he was well received by Ukrainian soldiers who “think it’s great that an American soldier is here to fight alongside them” after initially being “shocked to see an American passport” at the checkpoints. He says he fought alongside British and Canadian citizens but encountered no other Americans at the front.
“I don’t want the Russian propaganda machine to say there’s a battalion of Americans that I’ve already seen.” emphasized Vasquez in a tweet early Friday. “[I’m] Here alone of my own accord and completely voluntarily.”
In one of his most recent posts on Friday, Vasquez shared photos of himself and a British soldier training Ukrainian forces during their “down time.”
Vasquez told his Twitter followers how he took this machine gun from a Russian.twitter/@jmvasquez1974
“[T]They are eager and learn quickly.” he said about the Ukrainians. “It’s really an honor to fight with these amazing men.”