It is common practice for the Russian army to shoot its own soldiers, especially when they begin to retreat, Vice President JD Vance’s cousin and Russian-Ukrainian war veteran, Nate Vance, said in an interview with CNN on March 10.
Nate spent three years in Ukraine, most of it fighting full-scale Russian aggression with the Da Vinci Wolves Battalion. He participated in some of the bloodiest battles of the invasion in Kupyansk, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Pokrovsk.
“I personally witnessed them shooting their own soldiers, and it was not just, you know, an isolated incident. It happened quite often, so much so that it can be considered a policy for retreating troops,” he said.
On March 9, in aninterview with Le Figaro, Nate weighed in on the recent Oval Office clash between President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, calling it "an absolutely despicable ambush" of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.