FLASH
Shkruar nga Albert Lores
What they did to Zelensky with Trump was an ugly trap.
The former Texan Marine fought for two and a half years alongside the Ukrainians and against the Russians. He regrets that politics has so distorted his close family member.
When Nate heard his first cousin, US Vice President JD Vance, attack Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office of the White House, he flew into a rage. He was traveling in his camper van in the western part of the US, having returned in January of this year.
He felt very let down by his younger cousin. JD is a few years younger than Nate, who is 47. “JD is a good, intelligent guy. When he criticized the aid to Ukraine, I told myself that he was doing it to please a certain constituency, and that it was part of a political game. But what they did to Zelensky with Trump was an ugly trap,” he says.
Nate and JDVance share grandparents. JD's mother, Beverly, is the sister of Nate's father, James. The two men often vacationed together, either with JD's family in Middletown, Ohio, or in California, where Nate's family lived for a short time.
JDVance's career took off in 2016 when he published the novel "Hillbilly Elegy," which recounts his chaotic childhood as a "little white boy" from Appalachia. In 2023, he was elected senator from Ohio. The following year, he became the 50th vice president of the United States.
Meanwhile, Nate chose to go to Ukraine to fight against the Russians in the muddy trenches. "We really are a family, but that doesn't mean I'm going to accept him influencing the killing of my friends," says Nate Vance, exasperated.
The soldier counters his cousin's argument, highlighting the great benefits to the US from being involved in this war, the good use of American equipment on the front lines, etc. Nate has tried several times to contact his cousin.
"Getting in touch with a senator from Ukraine is not easy. But I have repeatedly left phone messages in his office. He has not answered me," he emphasizes. The Texan has participated in the deadliest battles of the war: Kupiansk, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Pokrovsk...
In the few photos that show the three years he spent in Ukraine, Nate's face shows the measured confidence of a professional soldier. He chose to leave in early January, just days before his cousin's inauguration as vice president.
Until that moment, he had remained silent about his family connection to candidate Donald Trump. “My stay there was getting more difficult. I couldn’t risk being caught by the Russians,” he declares. Nothing in Nate Vance’s past suggested that he would one day enlist in a Ukrainian volunteer battalion to fight against the Russian army.
He was indeed a Marine for 4 years, but that was 20 years ago, when he was 18. From 2001 to 2022, he lived the quiet life of an ordinary American in San Antonio, Texas. Over the years, he patiently climbed the ladder of hierarchy in an oil company.
When war broke out in 2022, Nate realized that this conflict was different from others. “ I wanted to go out of curiosity, but also for adventure. It’s not an honorable thing to admit, but it’s the truth,” he emphasizes. In March 2022, 3 weeks after the invasion began, he went to Lviv in Western Ukraine, which had become the center of international humanitarian aid during the first months of the war.
“I wanted to help in some way, in logistics or medical support. I could see history being written before my eyes and I wanted to be a part of it,” he says. One morning, the former marine met a British volunteer in a hotel looking for foreigners with military experience. Every week, the Ukrainian army recruited thousands of new fighters, who had to be trained before going to the front lines.
They were looking for anyone who had ever held a gun in their hands. It was very basic training. Under his leadership, workers, bartenders and teachers were trained for just a week. “ Most of them were young, almost children. It was scary,” the former soldier recalls.
And when a group of young but highly motivated volunteers offered to accompany him to the front, Nate agreed. He returned to the US for a few weeks before returning to Ukraine in June 2022. This time, he went to Donbass in Eastern Ukraine, where the fiercest fighting was taking place.
Nate joined “Honor,” a group of Ukrainian nationalists who were on the front lines since 2014 during the Maidan Revolution. Despite the language barrier, Nate contributed to the professionalization of this volunteer unit, which had not yet been officially integrated into the regular army.
" I have to admit, it wasn't like my missions with the Marines in Europe," says Nate. The veteran modestly recounts the trenches and the deaths, the mud and the blood, the fallen comrades and the enemies he killed . "Killing someone is no small thing. But there's not much to tell. You make up your mind from the beginning, and you don't worry so much," he adds.
“ Nate is a brilliant fighter, with extraordinary composure,” recalls Serhii Filimonov, the battalion’s current commander. At his command center near Pokrovsk, where his unit still holds the southern flank of the city, the 30-year-old tries to count the times he thought he would die alongside Nate Vance.
“15 times we should have died and 15 times we did!” he says with a wry smile. Serhii mentions an incident in the Bakhmut region, where two men found themselves trapped for hours in 2023 under methodical Russian artillery fire.
Now that he's done with the war, Nate is looking for a publisher to publish his memoirs. "I hope to continue to defend Ukraine in a different way. It really needs it," he says modestly.
A lifelong Republican, Nate now finds himself at odds with his own family. He is frustrated by the latest changes on the front line and the US's behavior with Ukraine.
"Donald Trump and my cousin think they can sweet-talk Vladimir Putin. They are wrong. The Russians are unlikely to forget our support for Ukraine. We are Vladimir Putin's useful idiots," he concludes./ Adapted from "Pamphlet" by "Le Figaro"
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