The American man who allegedly tried to assassinate Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had visited Kiev and offered his services to Ukraine, but was rejected, the Ukrainian military said on Monday.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was arrested on Sunday after the US Secret Service spotted him at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. His social media posts and a self-published book claimed involvement with the Ukrainian military.
On Monday, the Ukrainian Land Forces Command confirmed to CNN that Routh had been in touch with them, but described his ideas as “delusional” and denied having accepted his services at any point.
“He was offering us large numbers of recruits from different countries but it was obvious to us his offers were not realistic,” Aleksandr Shaguri, a military spokesman, told CNN. “We didn’t even answer, there was nothing to answer to. He was never part of the Legion and didn’t cooperate with us in any way.”
Routh espoused multiple “delusional ideas,” Shaguri told the outlet.
In the summer of 2022, Routh visited Ukraine and gave multiple interviews to Western media outlets, presenting himself as a liaison to the government in Kiev and seeking to enlist pro-US fighters from Afghanistan for the Ukrainian cause. In one such interview, Routh told Newsweek Romania journalist Remus Cernea he was recruiting people for the International Legion of Ukraine.
Hellbound and Down 