The truth they don’t tell Ukrainians: an exclusive interview with a US soldier who fought for Ukraine
Ukrainian-language interview («Ochi v Ochi», Marichka Dovbenko): an hour-long sit-down on why he fought for Ukraine, how Americans really see the war, and whether he'll run for Congress.
In this hour-long episode of «Очі в Очі» (“Eye to Eye”), the interview program of Ukrainian journalist Marichka Dovbenko, Matthew Sampson — a U.S. Marine Scout Sniper who volunteered with Ukraine’s GUR International Legion — fields the questions Ukrainians rarely get to put to an American who fought for them.
The conversation runs from why he chose to fight for Ukraine and what shocked him when he arrived, to the cardinal difference in how the United States and Russia wage war, why Russia has failed to defeat Ukraine, and his case that the Ukrainian army is now the most experienced in Europe.
Dovbenko also presses the uncomfortable questions moving between Kyiv and Washington: why many Americans believe Ukraine is Europe’s most corrupt country, the rumor that Zelensky bought U.S. real estate, whether American intelligence is behind Ukraine’s best-known operations, what Ukraine actually got for giving up its nuclear weapons, and why Trump still hasn’t ended the war.
Sampson closes on personal ground — the Russian shell fragments he carries with him, a front-line operation he says fell apart because of lies from the Ukrainian command, an address to Trump on his 80th birthday, whether he plans to run for Congress, and the online abuse he has drawn — including being told to kill himself — for standing with Ukraine.
Interview published in Ukrainian; summarized in English from the program’s episode notes.