JD Vance’s furious cousin has blasted Donald Trump and the vice-president after he spent three years fighting in Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
Nate Vance, 47, a former volunteer fighter who battled Russian forces on the front lines, launched a scathing attack on his cousin and the president, branding them ‘Putin’s useful idiots’.
His blistering comments come just days after Trump suspended US military support to Ukraine, piling pressure on Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate with Moscow. The move has sparked international condemnation, with fears that Kyiv could be left dangerously exposed against Russian advances.
Nate, who fought in some of the war’s bloodiest battles including Kupiansk, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Pokrovsk as part of the elite ‘Da Vinci Wolves’ battalion, criticized his cousin’s explosive Oval Office showdown with Zelensky last month.
During that meeting, JD Vance publicly berated the Ukrainian president, accusing him of being ‘disrespectful’ and failing to show gratitude for US military support.
‘Have you said thank you once?’ the Vice President demanded, accusing Zelensky of ‘litigating in front of the American media’.
But the Texan condemned the encounter as a ‘political ambush’, accusing his cousin of pandering to pro-Putin elements in the Republican Party.
‘JD Vance is a good man, smart. When he criticized aid to Ukraine, I thought it was because it was part of a political game,’ Nate told Le Figaro.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky (left) was involved in an argument at the White House with US President Donald Trump (center) and US Vice-President JD Vance (right)
A serviceman of 24th Mechanized brigade named after King Danylo of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fires a 2s5 ‘Hyacinth-s’ self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops at a front line
‘But what they did to Zelensky was an ambush with absolute badness. Just because we’re related doesn’t mean I’m going to accept you helping kill my comrades’.
He said he had long believed his cousin’s criticism of Ukraine aid was just political posturing, but now he fears JD Vance and Trump are actively undermining Ukraine’s fight for survival.
‘Donald Trump and my cousin clearly believe they can placate Vladimir Putin. They are wrong. The Russians are not about to forget our support for Ukraine,’ he warned.
Nate also hit out at his cousin’s dismissal of intelligence reports on Ukraine’s war effort.
‘I was disappointed. When JD justifies his distrust of Zelensky by the ‘reports’ he has seen, I thought I was going to choke,’ he said.
‘His own cousin was on the front lines. I could have told him the truth, without pretence, without personal interest. He never tried to find out more.’
Nate revealed that he had tried to contact JD Vance’s office multiple times but never received a response.
According to a recent post from Ukraine Defence on Instagram which also shared a striking image of Nate in combat gear, the VP’s cousin served four years in the US Marine Corps between the ages of 18 and 22.
He then spent over two decades in San Antonio, Texas, living a quite life while working in the oil industry.
Then in March 2022, three weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, he traveled to Lviv where he met a British volunteer for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Nate bravely decided to join, and in June he found himself in Donbas.
Also attacking Mr Zelensky at the White House was US Vice-President JD Vance (pictured)
Ukrainian recruits and British Armed Forces trainers pose for a photograph on an AS90 self-propelled artillery system at a military facility, on February 23, 2023 in Southern England
Members of the National Police Special Purpose Battalion of Zaporizhzhia region fire a D-30 howitzer towards Russian troops on a front line, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine March 7, 2025
Nate hit out at his cousin’s dismissal of intelligence reports on Ukraine’s war effort
‘He was much older than us. On the first day, we went to the shooting range. He took a simple Kalashnikov, without a sight, and set up 800meters from the target,’ Nate’s fellow comrade Dima told the newspaper.
‘Everyone laughed at him. When he hit the metal target five times in a row, the laughter stopped,’ he added.
‘He is an excellent fighter with a cold-blooded character – 15 times we should have died – 15 times we managed to survive,’ said Honor Commander Sergey Filimonov.
Nate Vance returned to the US in January, shortly before his cousin assumed the Vice Presidency, saying it had become ‘too dangerous’ to stay in Ukraine.
Nate had always been discreet about his relationship with Donald Trump’s running mate, claiming it had become complicated to stay and if the information was revealed, he could have risked capture.
Nate completed his service but does not stop supporting the war-torn country.
According to the French newspaper Nate is now looking to publish his war memoirs.
But the rift between the two cousins lays bare the deep divisions in US politics over the future of Ukraine.
While Nate risked his life to defend the country from Russian aggression, JD Vance and Donald Trump appear determined to cut Kyiv adrift and force a peace deal on Putin’s terms.
Nate and JD share grandparents – JD’s mother Beverly is the sister of Nate’s father, James.
Images have shown that the the two men have vacationed together, in Middletown, with JD’s family, and in California, where Nate’s family briefly lived.
