American in Ukraine Details Fighting Unarmed Russians: 'It's Just Insane'

The morale of the Ukrainian military is high, and so is that of one particular American soldier fighting alongside it.

That American combatant, referred to by the alias Jeffrey Barnes, spoke to Newsweek exclusively on the condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

Barnes, 32, is an Iraq War veteran from the Midwest who served one tour over a decade ago. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he is the son and grandson of U.S. military personnel.

Following an honorable discharge, he floated around geographically, living in Poland, France, Romania, India, Italy and even Virginia Beach—where he met his future wife, who is in an undisclosed branch of the U.S. military and currently stationed in Europe.

He fought voluntarily in Ukraine for four months, taking up arms and joining soldiers of the invaded nation on February 28 before leaving at the end of June.

On Saturday, he is flying to Rome to rejoin his fellow soldiers in the Azov Regiment.

"This is such an insane loss of life over there," Barnes said. "I put on over 100 tourniquets in my first month of being in Kyiv. It's like Iraq and Afghanistan had nothing on this ... isolated combat, driving around waiting for someone to shoot at us. I thought I knew what war was. No, no, no. That's not war. This is war. It's just insane."

In the decade or so between his combat in Iraq and Ukraine, he traveled and conducted work he could not openly discuss.

He found himself in cities like Kyiv and Odesa, quickly developing an affinity for Ukraine and its way of life.

"I found that Ukraine was one of the places I tended to gravitate to more than anything," he said. "Just the culture, the people—it was the stoicism. I really respected the stoicism, but also respected that as soon as they let you in, it was nothing but family. I really respected their willingness to fight for what they believed in."

For someone enveloped in military history, he almost instantly found Ukraine to be a "military hub" with a strong history, both part of and aside from the Soviet Union.

It's palpable, he said, the "swath of emotion and culture in the air."

"It's very raw," Barnes said. "You walk around in it. It's not presented in a way that most European history is. History isn't just a spectacle in Ukraine; it's just where you live. The only other comparable place I would say would be something like Rome.

"It's kind of unavoidable that you're living in history. It's unavoidable to walk around Ukraine and see the impacts of different cultures, whether it be language or food or ways people do things."

He was also fascinated by how the country has been shaped by politics and war in general, notably within the past century.

"We're fighting big tank battles in places where the Germans and Russians fought big-tank battles, and the Russians are losing the same way," he said.

About one year before Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his military the go-ahead to invade Ukraine, Barnes was in Odesa with a friend and his wife. The trio discussed a potential military conflict, like a feeling was in the air.

"If you looked at things from the lens of a tactical perspective, the writing was on the wall," Barnes said. "If you looked at it that way, you absolutely saw it was coming. I looked at my friend and said, 'I think they're gonna do it.' My friend's wife said, 'absolutely not.' I said, 'If they do, I'll be on the first flight over.'"

His prediction, of course, came to fruition. He had friends in Kyiv who said they "woke up one day and there's cruise missiles flying and people parachuting in." Citizens were notoriously stuck in the subway, accompanied by minimal amounts of security guards and weapons.

It was winter and Barnes didn't know what to expect. He packed up his gear, including a vest and "crappy helmet."

Barnes entered Ukraine through Slovakia. He had a contact in the military contracting world who was in Kyiv and encouraged military personnel with special-ops experience to join the cause.

The beginning of the conflict involved "utter chaos" and "no organization," Barnes admitted. Ukrainian soldiers who volunteered were not skilled or experienced. The Ukrainian Legion "at the time was horrible."

"You were better off picking up a stick in the woods and running barefoot," said Barnes, who after joining Azov recalled being escorted to a cellar by a Ukrainian officer and finding a stockpile of .50-caliber and 14.5-inch rifles.

He would not disclose the number of infantrymen in his group, which is composed of all foreigners aside from maybe one Ukrainian. Soldiers are from countries including Austria, Sweden, France and Finland.

He still to this day has not been given papers for the purpose of citizenship, and he and his compatriots declined to sign length-of-war contracts.

Even though he doesn't know the language, aside from directional words or phrases and names of cities and foods, Barnes taught them how to put on tourniquets and to use stingers to shoot down Russian artillery common through the air at the war's infancy.

"There was always a sense of urgency," he said. "Everybody always wanted to learn, it was super cool to see."

He was in Bucha and witnessed Russian atrocities. He moved from Kyiv, where he was within 1,000 meters of a hypersonic missile hitting a mall, to southern Ukraine. Russians cavalierly killed civilians, he claimed.

"I'll never forget we had a car outside of Kyiv that was just stopped in the middle of the road, torn up with 30-millimeter cannon fire from a BTR (armored personnel carrier) probably," he said. "It was a woman and a guy, they were just shredded. They had two cat carriers in the backseat and the cats were just shredded."

He said the Russian strategy from the beginning was "absolutely laughable," evident from the limited amount of soldiers in Kyiv. He said Russian military officials treat their own men worse than Ukrainians do, and that non-commissioned officers are practically nonexistent.

Russian soldiers encountered on the battlefield routinely leave weapons in random spots, if they have any at all. Their gear is "trash," he said, remembering seeing pieces of body armor duct-taped together.

"Most guys we capture, it's not 'drop the weapon,' he said. "Most guys don't even have one. ... The term, 'it's like a video game,' is constantly echoed by Ukrainians in the context of, the Russians just come at you and you shoot them like it's a video game. You're almost not afraid. I would take a gunfight every day over all the other crap.

"We were all waiting every moment of every day for the big a-ha gotcha–like, oh, 'This was a big ruse' and it's never come. It's been like this since Day One."

Barnes said the Russian military "is not trained, not creative and has no leadership," adding that Iraqi insurgents posed a bigger threat on the ground.

"Planning and intelligence" have led to Ukraine's reclaiming of territories as part of the recent counteroffensive. Training has also strengthened the will of the Ukrainians and their brethren.

"Without NATO training, it's just Soviet commanders slinging lead at Soviet commanders across a field, because that's what it was at the beginning," Barnes said.

Ahead of his return to Ukraine, he purchased hundreds of dollars' worth of fatigues and more money for items like cameras and weapon mounts partially subsidized by friends and relatives.

When asked why he is going back, amid threats of nuclear warfare and a seemingly erratic Putin at the helm, Barnes called the mission "unfinished."

While he doesn't personally want U.S. soldiers militarily involved on a large scale, he said his new duty is fulfilling an "empty spot" in himself and that his learned skills are aiding others in a positive way.

"I never had the opportunity to impact such a pivotal moment in history and help people. ... You'll never do as great of a thing as you have the ability to do as an infantryman in combat, being able to help people and see the look on people's faces," he said. "Like, the look on someone's face after you help them in a way that to you is nothing but maybe changed their entire life—you realizing you touched someone like that, I would take that feeling over a million dollars any day of the week."