Nate Vance moved to war for Ukraine – his cousin JD humiliated her

A bow leans on the flank of the dead bison, dry grass gluits on the mighty horn disappearing in the felt. In addition, his hunter, a bearded, wide-built man in jeans, trucker cap and camouflage hoodie. His gaze awesome, almost stunned at the huge animal. Not a smile for the Facebook profile picture.

Nate Vance likes to shoot. And he not only focuses on animals. For two and a half years, the 47-year-old American fought in Ukraine, defended them in muddy trenches against endless waves of Russian invaders, risked his life for a people who is not of his. It was only this January that he laid down the gun and returned home. His last name had become a burden for him and would have attracted too much attention from then on. He wears the same as the 50th Vice President of the United States of America, JD Vance, Nates Cousin.

Nate’s father James is the brother of JD’s mother Beverly, as he writes at X. The two would have spent the vacation together in their youth, in their common home in rural Ohio. Or in sunny California, where Nate’s family lived for a while. The cousins ​​as a youthful beaming in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. In another picture, Nate, which is a few years older, smiles down on his little cousin, who sits grinning in the Superman shirt on a red toy tractor.

Both escaped the bitterly poor conditions of their childhood in the Appalachen. Jd sought after a big one, made it to an elite university, became a senator for his home state Ohio and is today the most powerful man in the country. Just like him, Nate went to the navy. He later moved to Texas, where he braved the career ladder in an oil company in San Antonio. Not a shine, but still a piece of the American dream.

The two vances do not only share the name and dense beard growth. Being conservative is almost a factory setting for “Hillbillys”, for Hinterwäldler, which includes JD and his family. Nate is no exception at second glance. He posts pictures of weapons on social media. Of yourself with weapons. From Jagdbeute along with weapons. From his little nieces with weapons. Nevertheless, he apparently chose the democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and not the “potato with asshole lips”, as Trump was called on a meme he shared at the time. People who “choose instead of pure feeling instead of mind”, the United States destroyed, he wrote.

The anti-trump gene was in the family. Also JD was once considered a critic, compared to the Maga man even to Hitler-until he, be it out of conviction or opportunism, became one of his loudest advocates. But JD’s boss should not remain the sole reason that Nate apparently alienated from his cousin.

In March 2022, just a month after the Russians came to Ukraine, Nate Vance volunteered for the struggle in Europe’s east – especially from the thirst for adventure, as he granted himself. “It is not honorable to admit that, but it is the truth”, which the French newspaper published this week.

His active military period was more than two decades ago. But the demand for everyone who could hold a weapon and teach the same other was great. “Many were almost still children. It was terrifying,” recalls Vance.

Half a year later he joined the “Da Vinci Wolves”, a militia battalion of a paramilitary wing right Ukrainian. With men, all far younger than himself, he was pulled further east, to the front. There he took part in some of the bloodiest battles of the war and is said to have fought in Kupjansk, Awdijiwka and Bachmut, among others, and thereby destroyed a “considerable number of enemies”, his comrades claim on social media:

While his cousin apparently killed Russians, Senator JD Vance was struck against the USA’s difficulty support for Ukraine. In the beginning he believed that JD only criticized the Ukraine aids “to please a certain electorate,” Nate told Figaro. He kept trying to reach JD from Ukraine, left news from his office. His cousin never reported back. “I could have told him the truth, simple and simple, without any personal agenda,” said Nate.

Maybe it would have remained with radio silence. However, at the end of February 2025, Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj made his boost to the new, old US President Donald Trump-and his number two.

The scene, as Trump presented his obviously cooking guest from Kiev in the Oval Office in the presence of the world press, accused him of a lack of gratitude, marked an unprecedented cut, perhaps a turning point in the war. Instead of de -escalating the situation and counteracting his erratic boss, Vice President Jd Vance followed. He accused Selenskyj of being disrespectful to not have thanked his boss often and in the same way for his generosity. The meeting was canceled – just like shortly afterwards the US military aids for Ukraine.

Nate, who has lived in the USA again since January, is stunned – and goes to the public. “You are a family, but that doesn’t mean that I will accept the fact that you let my comrades die,” he says to JD in the “Figaro”. He expects political leaders, also from his cousin, “a certain level of decency, especially in front of cameras”.

His experiences in Ukraine opened him a perspective that most of the Americans did not have, explained Nate Vance later in one. You don’t even have to defend Ukraine for emotional or moral reasons. “The idea of ​​an imperialist, aggressive, modernized Russia, which has learned its lesson in modern combat management, is problematic for our future,” he says calmly. As a word, he weighed each word individually, as if he wanted to counter the outbreak of the Vice President.

Shortly after Vance had taken the public with the criticism of his cousin, his “wolves” posted photos of his time in Ukraine on social media. One shows him in full war gear, with a dense, gray-melted beard, viewed the view of the distance as if he watches the enemy. There are two vances, the caption says. One who defends Ukraine and one who reveals it.