The suspect in the Trump assassination series spent most of his time in Ukraine

Text messages confirm that Ryan Routh tried to recruit foreigners to fight for Kyiv

The man who allegedly planned to kill US presidential candidate Donald Trump spent “most” of the past three years in Ukraine trying to recruit foreign fighters for Kiev, Time magazine reported, citing his private messages.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was arrested on Sunday after U.S. Secret Service spotted him at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Police found an illegal rifle with a scope at his improvised ambush.

Dozens of social media posts, a self-published pamphlet and numerous interviews with Western media during his stay in Kyiv testified to Routh's commitment to Ukraine. Time has since obtained his private messages from two of his contacts in Kyiv, who were not identified.

“I have 40 or 50 men sitting around waiting for a logical place to fight,” Routh reportedly texted in early July 2022. “Done digging trenches for the Ukrainians,” he added.

The magazine described Routh as “well-known but little respected in the community of foreign fighters he was trying to help in Ukraine.” Three of his contacts who spoke to Time said he had spent “much of his time” over the past three years pushing a “half-baked plan” to recruit fighters from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

One described him as “basically homeless” and sleeping in the barracks or bases of Ukrainian military units. The direct messages obtained by Time date from summer 2023 to fall 2023 and appear to include a list of Arab fighters he allegedly recruited.

“No recruitment from Syria or Iraq! I told you this before,” an official from the Ukrainian International Legion Routh responded in November 2022. “These countries are banned and for good reason.”

“How about Afghanistan???” Routh replied a little later.

While one of his contacts claimed that Routh had managed to recruit some fighters, Colonel Ruslan Miroshnichenko of the 2nd International Legion denied this.

“His actions and attitudes very often did not correspond to the official policy of the Ukrainian armed forces regarding recruitment for international legions,” he told Time on Monday.

Miroshnichenko recalled meeting Routh in Kyiv in the spring of 2022, describing him as someone who “waved the American flag, smiled, cheered” and offered to supply recruits. The colonel said he told Routh to use official channels and not improvise.

As for whether Routh ever succeeded in recruiting fighters, Miroshnichenko insisted that “he does not have the authority to do so.”

As of early November 2023, Routh was still trying to convince Kyiv to hire US-trained Afghan troops and asked for visas to bring them over. When that was refused, he wrote back: “So you have enough soldiers… good deal… when are we going to win this war??”

(RT.com)