“Putin’s useful idiots”: Nate Vance, relative of American VP, criticizes Trump and his cousin after serving in Ukrainian army

Nate Vance, the cousin of US Vice President J.D. Vance, volunteered to serve in the Ukrainian army following the full-scale invasion, fighting with the Da Vinci Wolves battalion. He has expressed deep frustration with his cousin and US President Donald Trump's positions, referring to them as "Putin's useful idiots."

He shared this in an exclusive interview with Le Figaro.

"J.D. is a good, smart guy. When he criticized aid to Ukraine, I thought it was because he had to appeal to a particular electorate, that it was a political game.

But what they [with Trump—ed.] did with Zelensky was an absolutely unscrupulous ambush," this is how Nate Vance summed up his attitude to the famous verbal skirmish in the Oval Office.

Nate and the US vice president share grandparents, JD's mother Beverly is the sister of Nate's father James. So they spent the holidays together, either in Middletown with JD's family or in California, where Nate's family lived for a short time.

"I was disappointed. When J.D. justified his distrust of Zelensky by the "reports" he had seen, I thought I would suffocate.

I could have told him the truth, without pretense, without self-interest. But he never tried to find out more," Nate complains.

According to him, he tried to contact his cousin several times, but "it's not easy to reach the senator from Ukraine." However, Nate insists that he left messages at his office, but no one called him back.

"Being your family does not mean that I agree to watch you kill my comrades," Nate Vance shared his emotions.

The publication writes that when the war broke out in 2022, Nate, who served 4 years in the Marine Corps in his youth, decided to go to Ukraine – out of curiosity.

"I wanted to go and see. Out of curiosity. And for the sake of adventure too. It's not very honest, but it's true," he admits.

In March 2022, three weeks after the invasion began, he arrived in Lviv and immediately wanted to help, so he set about teaching young volunteers the basics of weapons and other basic skills.

"I saw that history was being written before my eyes, I wanted to be a part of it," Nate said. In June 2022, he accompanied young fighters to the Donbas, to the front line.

The publication writes that the Texan later fought alongside Ukrainians in the Da Vinci Wolves battalion for over two years, participating in the bloodiest battles in Kupiansk, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Pokrovsk.

Vance decided to return to the United States in early January, just a few days before his cousin's inauguration as vice president.

"It became difficult to stay. I couldn't risk being captured," he explained.

Nate is currently seeking a publisher for his war memoirs.

"I hope to continue to defend Ukraine in other ways, it really needs it," the vice president's cousin said.

However, even in his own family, he faces misunderstandings: yes, his mother shares J.D. Vance's views on the events in Ukraine.

"Donald Trump and my cousin obviously think they can outsmart Vladimir Putin. They are wrong. The Russians are not going to forget about our support for Ukraine. We [Americans – ed.] are Vladimir Putin's useful idiots," Nate Vance concluded.

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