With the start of the sixth day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which President Vladimir Putin describes as a "special military operation," reports indicate that the Russian troops have made "little progress" in their attempts to get to Kyiv.
So far, over 130 civilian lives have been lost because of the conflict. The UN also says that at least 70 Ukrainian soldiers have died due to Russia hitting a military base in Okhtyrka.
Putin approved the invasion after saying that he was carrying out a "demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine." He was using false claims about Nazis in Ukraine to validate his decision to invade the country.
In his speech, Putin told Ukrainians that their fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers had not fought against the Nazis to defend the Motherland. This, according to him, was the reason Neo-Nazis could still seize power in Ukraine.
He also urged the Ukrainians to lay down their weapons.
A clip doing its rounds on social media shows an American man beside the Russian military. He says he is with the people who are demilitarizing and liberating Ukraine:
"...these guys are tough, these guys are ready, and there's plenty of them."
As far as he is concerned, the Russians are "denazifiers and liberators."
In his statements, he said that Russia had only used about 10% of its military power and was getting ready to get even more serious in its offensive. The elderly man argued that the Russian soldiers would bring salvation and liberation to the people of Ukraine and "kick" the bad people.
The man is known as Russell Bonner Bentley III, and he hails from Texas. He joined Putin's mission against the Nazis in 2014, devoting himself to a fight against alleged Ukrainian fascism.
According to the media, since he became part of the Russian military operation, he has turned into a formidable "foot soldier in Russia's information war."
A local paper praised him for his fighting skills:
"Texas showed himself to be a good, hardy fighter, and an excellent machine gunner."
After that, he spoke for the first time on an appearance in the Russian state media.
Bentley said that he felt a responsibility to go to Donbas and prove that not all people in the United States support its fascist government and its support of the Nazi government of Ukraine.
The Americans also swore that the "people's republic" of Donetsk was stronger than it had ever been. He went as far as saying that he now had a new country and that if the US started World War III, he'd fight on Russia's side.
He went on to say:
"I'm happy to see the US destroyed just like Germany was."
