When Sarah Ashton Cirillo, American transgender womancame to Ukraine In March 2022, he wanted to work as a journalist for two weeks, but ended up joining the Ukrainian army.
Now She is the spokesperson for the Territorial Defense Forces consists of reservists and declares war on the English-speaking public.
When visiting Kyiv At his secret workplace, he explains that his unit is not afraid of becoming a target of “Russian hatred.”
“If the Russians are angry, it’s because we’re doing our jobs well,” says the 46-year-old blonde.
Russian television broadcast an hour-long program last week in which Sarah She was described as a “monster” and a “disgrace to the Ukrainian people.”
The American directs two programs Youtube and continues to publish tirelessly X (ex Twitter), where he is followed by more than 156,000 people.
Sarahwho doesn’t speak Ukrainian, sends official messages from power while mocking Russian media reporting.
He also follows the international media. In August, he announced a “boycott” of CNN over its ratings of foreign fighters Ukraine of “mercenaries,” which the media corrected.
During a visit to his studio, he introduces his colleagues to AFP. They all stood at the front and then wore a uniform with their unit’s insignia and the Latin motto “Ad Resistendum” (“Resist”).
The speaker has editorial freedom regarding her contentand wants to avoid reporting the war in a focused manner and only based on numbers.
Your channel’s audience Youtubestill current, quite limited (around 20,000 views in August) But the attacks against them in the Russian media far exceed this scale.
From impartial observer to fighter
“The Russians are obsessed. I’m constantly searching.” Googleand most get along Russia“He elaborates on details.
In Ukraine It received mixed reactions, even though the country has developed significantly in recent years.
He welcomed them Pride marches and allowed people LGBT join the army. However, that is The European Court of Human Rights criticizes the treatment of same-sex couples.
When he arrived as a journalist, Sarah worked in the northeast region of Kharkiv. Large parts of the area were occupied and bombed by the Russians.
“When I saw war crimes and Russian terrorism up close, I went from being an impartial observer to being a fighter,” she says.
He believed he could be “more useful as a soldier” and joined a Tatar unit Crimea, a Muslim minority. She worked as a military nurse using the pseudonym “Rubia”.
It didn’t take long for the Russians to discover it. The spokesman for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharovaexclaimed a “transgender journalist” in April 2022 Las Vegas filmed in Kharkiv He photographs himself hugging some bandits.
For Sarah The comment is difficult to accept. In your opinion, since the beginning of the year Russia increases the attacks. “They accuse me of being Satan and of responding to the orders of the (American) State Department,” he comments.
“When the Russians discovered I was at the front, they looked for my unit. They wanted to neutralize me by kidnapping or killing me,” he says.
The armed forces then decided that the front line had to be evacuated and They offered her a job as a speaker.
An offer he found difficult to accept as he felt guilty about leaving his unit. “But I agreed because it is our duty to report on this war,” he emphasizes.
VMS