Reporter's Notebook: US vet training Ukraine's finest has message for Congress: 'We cannot fail on this issue'
U.S. Army veteran John Roberts has been training Ukrainian forces to fight Russia; however, he is concerned that the U.S. may play a part in Ukraine's downfall if funding isn't forthcoming.
John Roberts is a U.S. Army veteran, a native of California, who, as a civilian, has fought with and now trains Ukrainian forces in their now two-year-long battle against Russia.
In a widely posted open letter last week, Roberts, who also goes by the call sign of "Jackie," expressed his concerns about U.S. military aid to Ukraine possibly "drying up," as a $60 billion aid package remains blocked on Capitol Hill.
In an exclusive Zoom interview with Roberts who was at his training base in eastern Ukraine, he told us, "I will support these people to the end… these are really good people."
With Russia now making inroads against Ukraine along a very long front line, Roberts is worried that the U.S. could play a role in Ukraine’s downfall.
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"If Russia does crush them," he explained, "it’s going to look like we let them do it."
Roberts believes he has evidence to back that up. The troops he works with were some of the last holdouts in Avdiivka, the embattled Ukrainian town that recently fell to Russian forces, giving Moscow its first triumph in months.
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Roberts says the Ukrainian troops simply ran out of weaponry.
"We would have held it," he asserted, "if we had the ammunition."
Roberts labels himself a conservative and understands there are domestic demands on federal funding... including along the U.S. border. But he also deeply feels that the Ukraine fight is "do or die."
"We cannot fail on this issue," he said, "We cannot let Ukraine down."
For the veteran who has been injured himself in the fighting here, this is also personal. He sees how much the people of Ukraine admire the U.S. And he doesn’t want to let them down.
"Half the soldiers I work with wear American flags into battle," he explained, "It’s because they respect the ‘American way.’"
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He added, "They’re going to be a great ally when this is over."
That is, if the weapons keep coming. Like a lot of Americans, "Jackie" remains optimistic.
"We have always stood," he concluded, "on the right side of history."
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