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Volunteer trainers in Ukraine have accused a US volunteer of being an underqualified “war tourist.”
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They allege he improperly trained soldiers and may have endangered lives. He denies the claims.
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The story paints a messy picture of the role of foreign volunteers in Ukraine.
On a sweltering day in June, soldiers from Ukraine’s 47th Assault Regiment went into battle against advancing Russian forces in Bakhmut.
The city in eastern Ukraine has been the center of intense fighting since summer, with mercenaries from the Russian private military contractor the Wagner Group at the forefront of attempts to capture it.
Thousands on both sides have been killed on a front line that has barely moved. The relentless fighting has been compared to World War I, with trench warfare and house-to-house fighting.
On that day in June, Brian Wang, a 35-year-old US citizen, found himself amid the carnage. Wang, a firearms instructor originally from Pittsburg who now runs a firearms school in California, was one of the thousands of foreigners who volunteered to go and help Ukraine after Russia invaded in February.
Some joined to fight with the International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine. Others with relevant skills, like Wang, volunteered to train Ukraine’s soldiers.
While entering a house in Bakhmut, two Ukrainian soldiers were ambushed by Russian troops. The first Ukrainian died on the spot. The second was shot several times, including in the abdomen. Wang stepped forward to try and save him.
The second soldier did not survive. And what happened next has become the subject of a fierce debate between a group of US military veterans in Ukraine and Wang and raises questions about the role of foreigners in Ukraine, war tourism, and what rules of conduct apply in warfare.
Ambush in Bakhmut
Sons of Liberty International is a nonprofit security-contracting firm composed of veterans primarily from the US and Canada who went to Ukraine as volunteers to train the country’s soldiers.
Two SOLI instructors alleged to Insider that Wang, who was not affiliated with SOLI but worked to train the same unit as them, took on more responsibility than he was qualified for and may have endangered the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.
“I definitely feel like he would be a war tourist,” Erik Inbody, a 29-year-old SOLI instructor and retired Marine, said about Wang, using a term to describe thrill seekers in a war zone.
The deaths in Bakhmut are the source of most of the contention. According to a newsletter written by Wang at the time, which Insider has viewed an archived version of, he was not supposed to be involved in the action that day.
Wang traveled to Bakhmut with the battalion but was left behind the line at the camp because the battalion commander deemed him not experienced enough to be in the heat of battle.
“I was a liability, and he didn’t want me getting hurt,” Wang wrote.
While he was doing laundry, Wang said a dark-green SUV suddenly pulled up and he heard a Ukrainian soldier shout, “De medyky?” meaning, “Where are the medics?”
Wang wrote that at that point, “My war had become real.” He said he responded: “Ya tut! Ya tut!” — “I’m here! I’m here!”
More muscle than the pork ribs
Wang, by his own admission, decided to take charge of rescuing the wounded Ukrainian soldier. Wang is not a trained medic and not in charge of leading the unit. It is not clear whether any of its senior commanders were present.
He went on to detail his efforts to save the soldier along with a squad medic nicknamed Wolf.
Wang described a scene from the fog of war: In a chaotic blur, the two performed a needle decompression on the soldier, a…